How to review smartmove income suggestions

[Tanim J B.]

Howdy, a newbie question.

was trying to verify 3x income requirement. Got application using smartmove where it says income as xx but paystubs show different? Should we consider pay stubs as source of truth?

Also application has 2 roomates and their combined take home (i calculated from paystubs) is around 2X the rent ie 2k. But report says its 3x i believe thats gross .

any suggestions on how you guys review this?

[Joe Splitrock]

@Tanim J B. I would consider pay stubs reliable, but only if you contact the employer and verify employment. I could manufacture fake pay stubs if five minutes that you couldn't tell were not real. 

The Income Insights feature of My Smartmove is unique to them. They use pay information from previous applications, compare it to payment history and declared income. They determine if the reported income seems right. If they are saying it is lower, I would definitely do extra verification with the employer.  

I require gross monthly household income to be 3X rent. If you are seeing 2X rent, that is too low. Make sure you are reading the pay stubs correctly. Pay periods are sometimes non standard. My company pays twice a month. Many are paid every two weeks, so you can see that could make a difference. Some people also get more pay seasonally. A construction worker may make a ton in the summer and be virtually laid off in the winter.