The costs of entry into homeownership continue to rise, making it more difficult for working families to grab hold of the American dream and secure a path to prosperity. And while technology has made home-buying more accessible and seamless, institutional players maintain a death grip on certain services allowing them to increase their fees with impunity.
One example is The Work Number, a little-known but massive service operated by Equifax. Their price increases contribute to higher home-buying costs.
The Work Number bills itself as “the country’s largest centralized commercial database of income and employment information.” Companies pay The Work Number for the privilege of handing over detailed income data on their employees, allowing these companies to outsource employment verification and save on time and costs.
Read Full Article »