Overview

Atto’s Income Verification API allows businesses to accurately verify an individual’s income by analyzing up to 12 months of bank transaction data. Powered by advanced algorithms, the API identifies and ranks both primary income sources and benefit streams, providing a clear and comprehensive picture of the individual’s financial situation.

With support for multiple income streams, this solution is ideal for credit providers, lenders, and businesses that need to assess income as part of risk management, lending decisions, or affordability checks.

Income Verification can be used in two ways:

Open Banking Journey: The end user connects their bank account through Open Banking, and the API retrieves the necessary data directly.
Income Verification Engine: The API consumer feeds in transaction data they already have, bypassing the need for the Open Banking journey.

How Income Verification Works

The Income Verification API analyzes bank statements to detect recurring credit transactions that represent income. The process returns top three recurring income groups, ranked by the total amount. We only consider credit transactions > £50, smaller transactions are ignored. We also return all groups recognized as benefit income, even if not in the top three and regardless of value.

Verification Steps

Group Transactions by Income Source
Calculate Expected Income for Each Group
Check Income Flags
Calculate Confidence Score

Steps To Get Income Verified

Step 1: Connect Your Bank Account via Atto Connect

The customer securely connects their bank account using open banking or a similar integration.

Step 2: Data Retrieval

Atto fetches data directly from the connected bank account, ensuring data accuracy and integrity.

Step 3: Automated Income Analysis

Atto processes the transactional data to identify regular income patterns, stability, and average amounts.

Step 4: Call Income Verification API

API Response Fields

The API response includes key fields that provide essential insights into the customer’s financial profile. In addition to account details, the following income-related fields help you evaluate recurring credits:

Income Streams

The API analyzes up to 365 days of transaction data to detect recurring income streams. Each stream corresponds to specific months in the dataset:

month1: Refers to the earliest month in the 365-day dataset.
month11: Represents the most recent full month.

estimatedIncome

Advanced algorithms analyze transaction patterns to calculate an estimated income for each income stream. This value reflects a realistic income estimate based on historical data.

confidenceScore

Derived from several confidence flags, this score indicates how likely the estimated income is to occur in the next month. It helps assess the reliability of each income stream. The maximum score is 10/10.

confidenceScoreFlags

The confidence score is based on multiple flags that help measure income consistency and stability:

incomeForLast3Months: True if income for the last three months is present (value > 0).
varianceTolerance5Percent: True if the difference between the estimated income and each of the last three months' incomes is within -5%.
varianceTolerance10Percent: True if the difference between the estimated income and each of the last three months' incomes is within -10%.
mostRecentCheckValue: True if the most recent recorded income is higher than or equal to the estimated income.
stabilityOverall: Measures income stability over the entire recorded period.
stability6Months: Measures income stability over the last six months.

Additional Fields for Income Streams

name: Unique description of the income stream
numberOfDeposits: Total number of deposits made for the income stream.
isBenefit: Indicates whether the income stream is a benefit.
isSalary: Indicates whether the income stream is a salary.
rank: Ranks the top three recurring income groups by total amount. Possible values are "One", "Two", or "Three". Benefit streams are not ranked.

Income Streams Summary

In addition to individual income streams, the API provides an aggregated view through the incomeStreamsSummary schema, offering a holistic perspective on the customer’s income.

Key Fields in `incomeStreamsSummary`:

incomeStreamSummary: Month-by-month data based on all aggregated income streams.
estimatedIncome: Estimated income value based on all recurring income streams.
confidenceScoreFlags: A set of flags representing the overall confidence score across all income streams.
verifiedIncomeStatus: The final status of the income verification process.

Possible `verifiedIncomeStatus` Values:

UnsupportedAccountType: The processed account type is not a current account.
NoCreditTransactions: No credit transactions were found in the account.
Processed: Income verification was successfully completed.

Configurability

The Income Verification API offers several options to customize the response:

includeFlags: Returns an extended response containing all flags used to calculate the confidence score.
excludeBenefits: Excludes benefit streams from the income calculation. Note that the state pension is not classified as a benefit.

API Schema and Response

Use Cases

Loan Origination & Affordability Checks

Ensure customers have stable and sufficient income for repayment.
Automate income verification for faster credit decisions.

Rental Applications

Verify a tenant’s income to ensure they meet rental affordability criteria.
Identify multiple income streams for a complete financial assessment.

Payroll and Employment Verification

Confirm regular salary payments to validate employment status.
Detect freelance or multiple job incomes for a full income picture.

Insurance Underwriting

Assess income stability when determining coverage or premium levels.
Detect benefit streams that could impact eligibility for certain policies.

Debt Collection & Restructuring

Identify income streams and repayment capacity to create tailored repayment plans.
Prioritize collections based on reliable income sources.

Risk & Credit Modelling

Integrate income data into risk models for more accurate default predictions.
Use the confidence score to weigh the reliability of income in predictive models.

Key Benefits

Comprehensive Income Analysis: Supports up to three main recurring income streams plus any present benefits for a full financial profile.

High Accuracy & Confidence: Advanced algorithms ensure reliable income detection and scoring.

Customizable Calculations: Choose whether to include or exclude benefits in the income assessment.

Real-Time Verification: Automate income verification to reduce friction and improve decision-making speed.