14. august 2019
When submitting an application, LHV has begun offering its loan clients the option to use information from the Tax and Customs Board (MTA) when providing information on their income and workplace. This simplifies the loan decision processes and speeds up the response time for clients.
The service was developed in cooperation between LHV and the MTA. The first function added was the new data exchange option when applying for consumer loans – LHV Consumer Loan, Home Repair Loan, Home Furnishing Loan, Car Loan, and Health and Beauty Loan.
According to Kadri Kiisel, Head of LHV Retail Banking and LHV Finance, this is yet another excellent example of a public-private partnership, enabling a better client experience to be offered to clients. ‘Even if using information from the Tax and Customs Board may not seem like a novelty, we are proud to be the first credit institution to use this option,’ said Kiisel. ‘It is in the interests of the tax authority to consider the official salary paid to the client when making the credit decision. For us, however, the new data exchange enables us to provide the client with faster and more convenient service,’ Kiisel added.
The update means that when applying for Consumer Loans, the client can choose to present and certify their income data after identification based on the information reported to the Tax and Customs Board. In many cases it significantly speeds up the decision-making process for loans, as upon the consent of the client, the MTA quickly forwards information on all persons whose salary payments have been reported by their employer.
Rivo Reitmann, the Deputy Director General of the MTA, recommends reviewing tax matters before applying for the loan. ‘Relying on the information of the tax authority helps to draw the attention of people to whether or not labour taxes have been paid on their salary. Taking the official salary into consideration when granting loans enables loans to be obtained in a responsible manner and most definitely helps to reduce the spreading of envelope wages,’ Reitmann stressed.
LHV is also planning to gradually add the use of the new inquiry to the decision-making process governing other loans offered to private persons, such as the LHV home loan, private loan and leasing, and to continue to make the decision making process for loans more convenient and faster for clients.
LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group's key subsidiaries are LHV Pank and LHV Varahaldus. LHV employs over 420 people. LHV’s banking services are used by 182,000 clients, and pension funds managed by LHV have 177,000 active clients.
