As rental companies, we all need to grow our customers and that means working with new people. ID verification services can help relieve some of the anxiety about working with new renters (see Koerner Camera’s testimonial below). The problem is that ID verification services can be a significant cost. When you investigate identity verification services, comparing pricings and capabilities is not easy, so we’d like to offer some comparison.
What ESTA Offers
First, what does ESTA offer its members? Members can have their own Plaid dashboard, a premium identity verification service, for a subscription of $500/yr. plus $5 per verification for US IDs. For a typical user that’s a total of $560-$600 per year, for which you could gain several rentals and new regular customers. As a trade association we can leverage our collective buying power to put this service within reach for our members, but we need more companies to take advantage of the offer.
As a trade association we can leverage our collective buying power to put this service within reach for our members, but we need more companies to take advantage of the offer.
How it Compares
Pricing for identity verification services is often unclear and varies widely, with premium options that can cost over $1,000 per month. Pricing is based on many factors and there are many add-ons, so the quoted base rates are probably not what you end up paying. From what we can see, a mid-tier companies like Veriff start at $49/month, IDology is $99/mo + $1/check, Subsum is $150/mo minimum, Persona $250+/mo. For a premium service like Plaid the cost is over 1,000/mo. So, the annual cost for more basic services is typically $600 - $3000 and can be a lot more than that. ESTA’s offering is a premium-level verification service at a significantly lower cost.
Why Plaid
Many services seem to offer similar sounding features like instant ID verification and live person checks, but their methods vary. Plaid uses authoritative date sources, live selfie check, ID matching, and produces are report that includes verified accounts on social media and other platforms as well as phone and email confirmation. It gives you multiple vectors from which to make a judgement. Plaid has higher, faster, and more accurate pass rates (typically above 90% for digital onboarding) than many of its competitors. The process is fast (only a couple minutes) and easy.
Member Experience
Here’s what one of our members told us about their experience with Plaid.
We’ll admit it—we were hesitant to start using Plaid. We assumed it might be clunky, slow, or annoy customers. Instead, it’s been the complete opposite. Plaid is fast, simple, and surprisingly painless. It also takes the anxiety (and personal onus) out of vetting.
Producers treat it as totally normal—just part of doing business these days. It’s actually helped us say yes to clients we might’ve otherwise passed on. In one case, another rental house couldn’t fully verify a producer and turned them away. Plaid gave us the confidence to move forward, and now that client is a solid, returning customer.
Bottom line: Plaid hasn’t lost us business—it’s helped us gain it, while giving us a lot more peace of mind.
Koerner Camera
The Importance of Growing PERG’s Fraud-Fighting Network
Ten PERG companies are currently using Plaid. We need at least ten more companies to sign up over the next month or so to reach the break-even point for ESTA. If we cannot reach that goal, ESTA faces a difficult choice, but we feel certain that this member benefit is truly a value to the industry and will gain even greater value the more people that use it. Used in conjunction with RENTAL GUARD, this is an opportunity for PERG members to further strengthen our network for fighting fraud.
You can see what the dashboard looks like and view a demonstration of the identity check process HERE.
To talk to us about it and sign up please email plaid@esta.org.
