Work: Currently a Design Manager at Meta.
Education: Currently a Ph.D. student in Design at Carnegie Mellon University. I earned a Master's in Strategic Design & Management from Parsons School of Design. I also earned a BS in Entrepreneurship and a BA in International Studies from the University of Utah.
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How might we redesign the verification of Income and Employment so that the new version requires only one third of the time it takes to complete the current verification process?
In today’s consumer-centric, digitally-driven era, digital verification of income and employment can be hit and miss. Results can be unreliable, out of date, and hard to interpret.
Through digital Verification of Income and Employment (VOIE) solution with TX Verify, delivered a experience design interface that maximized the number of borrowers moving through the digital verification process by 16%
June - July 2019
Rocket Mortgage, an independent broker, needed a new experience design that would improve the time it takes for its Verification of Income (VOIE) system. The app would allow users to aggregate their financial data (bills, bank accounts, etc) and use it to verify their incomes for loans. We developed an app for Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans. The app was designed to allow users to aggregate their financial data (bills, bank accounts, etc) and use it to verify income, usually to apply for loans.
Our objective through digital Verification of Income and Employment (VOIE) solution with TXVerifyTM, was to deliver a UI interface that helps financial institutions have a verification breakthrough in getting the accurate, reliable, high-value data they need from consumers by creating a seamless user experience, offering customers everything they need to verify essential financial information through visual and functional design. As the senior UX designer. I worked closely with the team’s Creative Director. My research and experience with human-centered design principles proved invaluable from gathering data, to designing UI interface Prototyping
After our research phase, we gathered information about the US labor market and hoped to leverage its insights to inform our design. We gathered everything from statistics to extra future user demographics. The data generated many important insights. For example, out of 156 million full-time workers in the US labor market, 98 Million are paid through Payroll Providers or third-parties. Paystub verification is the most important part of the loan verification market, forming 75-85% so our information design and choice architecture needed to be efficient and effective for borrowers and bank loan officers due to the app’s demands
Through the human-centric process, we led with our research by asking questions like, “What problems do Rocket Mortgage’s staff and customers need solving?” How do we know it's a real problem? “In solving this problem, what are the most important features they prioritize?”
The primary user audience consisted of Rocket Mortgage’s customers. Because Rocket Mortgage is an independent firm, its loans are sought after by those who want to interact with a smaller, almost boutique financial institution. We interviewed its users and future users to understand what features were most important to them. We also interviewed Rocket Mortgage staff. Since they would interact more with the experience design in approving loans. They emphasized the experience has to be in parallel with financial regulation rules they must abide by.
“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” -- Aristotle
The app needed to serve both loan recipients and loan officers equally well. As part of the human-centered design process, the team profiled several prospective users for our general understanding and to ensure we remained focused on solutions for our customers’ real-world problems.
“Lots of parts of this process feel like jumping through hoops; the most important thing for me would be making it easy [to use].”
Andie received a loan from ACME Lending to expand her home daycare business; she has already worked with the company and its existing financial data verification system. She studied early childhood education with a minor in nutrition.
“I can tend to overthink this process, and so I appreciate the straightforwardness.”
Gary is used to working with his hands. His mobile phone has become a necessary part of his business in recent years; although he is most comfortable with old-fashioned paperwork, he wants to use his phone to verify his income and apply for a new mortgage.
“Customer experience is everything”
Patricia recommends loans for those who are approved to receive them. She needs quick access to accurate data
With the data, we gathered from market research, client requirements, and interviews, we listed the most important features the app would require:
Inter-app connectivity The app will need to easily and seamlessly connect to banking apps to verify pay stubs, income, etc -- without risking a breach of financial information security
Upload pay stub Users must be able to upload screenshots, scans, photos, etc of their pay stubs
Extract and verify data The app must read other apps, extract data, and use it to verify employment and income
Generate VOIE report After verifying financial information, the app generates a VOIE report for financial officers
The usability testing session was conducted at the Acme lending office, where we had people who represented specific use cases. They were to use the app from the initial onboarding process to completion of the application. For example, one participant was called John. John Berg decided to buy a new home after his job promotion through Acme lending loans. After working with his loan officer it was estimated that Jimmy has over $300k of assets and also has a regular income of $12500/month he makes in his sales Job. Jimmy received an email from the loan officer with a link for him to verify his assets and income. For Jimmy to verify his income, he needs to upload his paystubs, connect his bank(s). This is the identity we gave John to enable him to start the usability test for his specific use case. We used different banks like Wells Fargo and Chase to help to create scenarios where Acme lending works with borrowers who use these banks.
Married, Analyst, 33 years old Salt lake City, UT
John decided to buy a house and decided to use Wells Fargo. He was assigned a loan officer at Wells Fargo and during their meeting, John filled forms that stated he has $150,000 in his account worth of assets and has a regular income of $9000/month. The Loan officer to verify these statements, the loan officer asked John to verify his income and assets by adding his paystubs and his Financial Institution as part of the last process for his loan application.
Single mom, Online paid blogger, 29 years old Riverton, Utah
Leah decided to buy a house after her divorce and decided to use ACME Home Loans. After working with a loan officer at ACME Home Loans. it was estimated that Leah has $85,000 in her account of assets including settlement on her divorce and also she has a regular income of $4500/month she makes in online blogging. Leah was asked to verify her income.
Single, Photographer, 26 years old London, UK
Sid decided to buy a house and decided to use Chase to fund the mortgage. In a discussion with his loan officer at Chase, Brian stated he has $50,000 in his account worth of assets and has a regular income of $6000/month. The Loan officer then asked Sid to verify his income as part of the last process for his loan application.
Single, Accountant, 26 years oldSt George , Utah
Brian decided to buy a house and decided to use Chase to fund the mortgage. In a discussion with his loan officer at Chase, Brian stated he has $50,000 in his account worth of assets and has a regular income of $6000/month. The Loan officer then asked John to verify his income as part of the last process for his loan application.
The VOIE 2.0 incorporated initial user feedback, and we optimized certain features based on user research and feedback. We also improved the launch and login process, allowing users to clearly and easily interact with other apps such as apps for media and financial institutions.
In today’s consumer-centric, digitally-driven era, digital verification of income and employment can be hit and miss. Results can be unreliable, out of date, and hard to interpret. The goal of our project was to improve the experience with borrowers and loan officers as they discussed the purpose of the loan and their income when borrowers were asked to verify their income. Through digital Verification of Income and Employment (VOIE) solution with TX Verify, we delivered an experience using human-centered methodologies that maximized the number of borrowers moving through the digital verification process by 10% and reduced the time it took to complete the verification process by 5 minutes.
There was a seamless experience in entering the various relevant information like adding an employer, payroll provider, upload paystub, and link account. Loan applicants and financial officers were satisfied with the experience and how it improved the verification process to be time-efficient and seamless integrations with respective authorized banks.