Veri-Tax is First Borrower Verification Company to Ensure Data Privacy

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Entire company – not just data center – now SAS-70/SSAE-16-certified
Unparalleled achievement places Veri-Tax on par with largest, most trusted financial institutions in U.S.

IRVINE, CA— May 18, 2011 — Veri-Tax, LLC, a leading provider of income and identity verification products for banks, mortgage lenders and other issuers of consumer credit, has successfully completed a SAS-70/SSAE-16 Type II audit, assuring data privacy when a bank or lender orders borrower tax and identity data through Veri-Tax.  When it comes to protecting sensitive consumer information, this level of privacy protection places Veri-Tax on equal footing with the largest, most trusted financial institutions. 

As mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, lenders must verify the identity and income of borrowers.  This involves requesting confidential borrower data from third-parties. “Successfully completing our SAS/70/SSAE-16 Type II audit proves that our entire company has implemented the processes to ensure against unauthorized disclosure of borrower data,” said Veri-Tax President Michael Chon.

The Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS-70) and its replacement, the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE-16), are regarded as the toughest U.S. standards for assessing an organization’s internal controls to ensure consumer data protection in the financial services industry.  While other financial service providers tout their data centers as SAS-70/SSAE-16 compliant, Veri-Tax has taken the additional, significant step of completing the more rigorous Type II audit for its entire organization, which involves an assessment of its corporate-wide policies and procedures related to handling client data.  Such an audit addresses how employees access borrower tax and identity orders as well as the security of Veri-Tax’s financial billing systems, information technology, and disaster recovery plans.

“Protecting consumer data is not just about how secure our data center is.  It is important for us to be able to ensure data integrity and security from unauthorized disclosure through every part of our organization – from our order processors, to our customer service representatives, to our financial billing system, to our information technology,” said Chon.  “If lenders want peace of mind and end-to-end security with their verification orders, they need look no further than Veri-Tax, as underscored by the audit results.”

The SAS-70 and SSAE-16 standards are issued by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).  A growing number of financial services firms require that their third-party service providers be SAS-70/SSAE-16 compliant to meet requirements set forth in the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, which contains specific provisions to help protect the personal information of consumers.  However, very few organizations that offer borrower verification and mortgage fraud solutions have obtained SAS-70/SSAE-16 certification, let alone Type II certification.

Whereas a Type I report includes the auditor's opinion regarding the fairness and suitability of an organization’s controls, a Type II report – such as the audit Veri-Tax completed – goes further, as it includes the auditor's opinion on whether an organization’s policies and procedures are operating effectively while under review.  The audit of Veri-Tax took 18 months and was completed in April, 2011 by EFP Rotenberg LLP, a Rochester, New York-based certified public accounting firm.

About Veri-Tax LLC

Veri-Tax LLC provides a full array of tax verification and fraud management products to the mortgage lending and consumer credit industries, helping financial institutions more quickly and securely verify borrower income and identity.  Founded in 1998, Veri-Tax offers a full suite of fraud management products including income verification, identify (SSN) verification, bankruptcy reports, mortgage fraud reports and employment verification services.  The company is based in Irvine, California.  For more information, call 1-800-969-5100 or visit www.Veri-Tax.com.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

Rosalie Berg
Strategic Vantage Marketing & Public Relations

(305) 971-5352

PR@StrategicVantage.com

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