Multiple Pathways and Customer Services Options Enable Easier Verifications for Historically Left Behind Communities
ID.me, the secure digital identity network, enables online digital verification for the 18 percent of Americans who don’t have a bank account or lack access to sufficient financial services. Unique verification pathways that don’t rely solely on credit checks help ID.me make digital identity verification equitable for all Americans, including populations who have been left behind by legacy identity verification methods.
“ID.me is committed to helping Americans who don’t have sufficient access to banking services,” said ID.me CEO and co-founder Blake Hall. “The digital identity verification solutions that ID.me offers, like in-person verification and video chats with trained agents, reinforce our goal of advancing digital equity for underserved individuals.”
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Many of the individuals who have difficulty establishing a financial history were able to verify their identity using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) IAL2 standard, after failing initial verification using financial records, notably a lack of certain financial history.
According to the Federal Reserve, unbanked and underbanked rates were higher among adults with lower income, adults with less education, and Black and Hispanic adults. Also, 29 percent of unbanked households cited not having enough money to meet minimum balance requirements as the main reason for not having a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. Government benefits helping families with lower income levels afford basic living expenses including food and housing as well as benefits for groups like veterans often require proof of identity or eligibility. Providing these populations with equitable access to a portable digital identity that enables greater access to these services is critical to the ID.me mission of No Identity Left Behind.
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In public testimony from May 2022, Robert Asaro-Angelo, New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development commissioner, spoke about the ability of ID.me to increase access to digital identity verification for historically underserved populations, including the unbanked: “ID.me has increased equity in our system. Let me tell you why. Because folks in legacy systems, the way they were judged on if they were a high risk for fraud, was based on their banking, based on their credit history, based on if they owned a home, based on if they were transient workers or not…we know that the majority of folks who are unbanked are people of color, people who are low-wage workers. Now, they have the option to show, ‘I’m a person. That’s all that matters.'”
The best path forward for a digital identity verification platform serving all Americans, all the time, is one that caters to the unique needs of all populations, particularly those in underserved communities who have been left behind by historic methods of verification.
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