Scoping

Credit decisioning begins by verifying income and employment. Both can be made through Argyle. We suggest integrating Argyle in two phases:

• Scoping (this guide) - determine how and where to integrate Argyle into your application process
• Implementation - a technical quick-start guide to implementing Argyle for verification of income and employment

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Scope the user flow

There are four aspects to consider when thinking about the user flow:

1. Where in the process do you want to leverage Argyle?
2. Which users do you want to route through Argyle?
3. How to on-ramp and off-ramp users?
4. How can a user disconnect their account?

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When to leverage Argyle

Argyle can read all information within a payroll account. This can be used at various periods in the application process:

• Pre-qualification or application - retrieve income information or autofill an entire application (including personal and employment information)
• Underwriting - using income and employment history during the decisioning process
• Verification - during the verification of employment or income phase after decisioning
• Ongoing servicing - ongoing monitoring of employment and income to check loan health or for marketing opportunities

Argyle has continuous access to a payroll account once it is connected. Benefits persist downstream from where you put Argyle in your application process.

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Routing users through Argyle

There are two places to integrate Argyle:

• All users through Argyle (recommended)
• Argyle for covered companies only

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All users through Argyle

Send all users through Argyle and leverage Argyle as a switchboard to alternative VOIE options. For payroll providers where Argyle has coverage, users can connect their accounts: If a payroll provider is not covered by Argyle, after selecting Can’t find your employer? the user can:

• Upload employment documents such as paystubs, W-2s, and 1099s directly from within Argyle after enabling document upload:

• Exit the Argyle connection interface. This triggers a callback function that allows you to funnel the user back to your application for an alternative path. The employer that the user queried is returned in the callback function as well.

We advise sending all users through Argyle as this provides the best user experience and highest conversion rates.

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Argyle for covered companies only

If you already know who employs the user, they can be taken directly to that employer’s log-in screen (skipping the search process) if the employer or its associated payroll system are part of Argyle’s coverage. Our Employer Search sample app shows how you can integrate Argyle’s company search process directly into your application. If Argyle does not cover a particular employer, you can allow the user to directly upload employment documents through Argyle, or route them through an alternative process.

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On-ramp users

In order to on-ramp users effectively, we find that best in class implementations provide two things:

1. Incentive - explain to the user the benefits they can receive from connecting their payroll accounts: they can complete their application faster through pre-populated information fields, and how verification of income and employment sourced directly from their payroll provider can unlock the best rates.
2. Context - help users understand the process they will go through: searching for their employer and then connecting their employment or payroll account.

An example on-ramp screen is provided below.

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Off-ramp users

After the user has connected their payroll accounts, you can exit them from your application process entirely, or they can be returned to your application to take further action if needed:

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Revoking access

When users connect their employment accounts through Argyle, they grant ongoing access to their employment accounts until such time as they revoke access. Provide users with an option to manage their connected account and revoke access if desired within your application.

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Scope the required data

Argyle has access to 160+ employment record data points. For verification of employment, you most likely want to retrieve:

• Employment status
• Job title
• Hire date

For verification of income:

• Net pay
• Gross pay
• Taxes
• Deductions

Refer to the Argyle API reference for a full list of all available data points.

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Data retrieval times

Argyle begins retrieving and delivering data from a payroll platform immediately after a new account is linked. An account is considered to be linked when a user enters their login details and Argyle has successfully authenticated their credentials. Delivery times can vary, depending on the data retrieval speed a payroll platform can support. Employment types such as gig work with a higher number of discrete activities and payouts can also influence delivery times. Typically, stable information pertaining to the user’s profile and employment history are retrieved quickly, followed by gradual delivery of historical pay data. Refer to our Data Retrieval Guide for more information.

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Next steps

After scoping how to integrate Argyle into your application process in this guide, continue on to our technical implementation guide for verification of income and employment.