The lender is introducing an optical character recognition (OCR) tool for all mortgage affordability assessments which will be rolled-out across all document types over the coming months.
It said the system automatically verifies information on documents, such as payslips, reducing the need for manual intervention.
Nothing will change in the process for brokers, but the mutual said a successful verification of proofs will lead to the assessment speeding up by at least 24 hours, meaning an offer can be made quicker.
If a client’s information cannot be verified from the proof by the system, then it will be manually reviewed.
The OCR tool digitally reads documents, identifies text and values from an image and then extrapolates the information into a digital format.
“With the ability now to assess thousands of payslips every week, this allows cases to be underwritten and offers to be made far more quickly,” Nationwide said.
Previously manual process
The mutual worked with its fintech partner EDM Group to develop the assessment portal which will work with its automated document verification platform.
Nationwide intermediary relationships director Ian Andrew said it had automated a previously manual process to include 100 per cent of all mortgage applications, which would speed it up by at least 24 hours.
“We are able to reduce the time it takes to assess applications so that brokers can work through cases and provide their customers with their offers really quickly,” he said.
“We will be offering the benefits of this across all our processing in the near future.”
EDM Group chief technology officer Spencer Wyer added: “It was a brilliant opportunity for us to work closely with Nationwide’s digital team to help automate income verification in a really unique way, still using payslips and other documents, but with minimal human intervention, speeding up the process significantly.”
