What's the audacity of Accountchek.com?
I am doing a mortgage refinance right now. My lender, who is legitimate, is asking me to help them verify my bank account balances via a service called accountchek.com.
Apparently the way this service works is that you go to the site, put in your email address, the last 4 digits of your SSN, and some code that your lender pre-configured for you. Once you do that, it asks you for the username and passwords of all of your bank accounts so it can verify your balances.
Should I go for this option? Is it even safe?
Anyone who has been requested to use the service should pay special attention to the privacy policy and terms of service(TOS) for AccountChek's parent company FormFree Holdings Corporation https://www.formfree.com/privacy-policy/
The information provided by the lender includes the borrower’s name, e-mail address, telephone number, the last four digits of his/her Social Security Number (for identity authentication), the name of the borrower’s employer(s), the amount of the borrower’s net paycheck, the amount of required reserve funds, the loan number, and the names of financial institutions and accounts that are to be verified through the online service. Since even if you do not decide to use the service you may still need to request that your personal information already provided by your lender should be removed from their system. Also if you do decide to use the service you may want to note AccountChek's TOS https://verifier.accountchek.com/tos DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT: ... ACCOUNTCHEK MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE SECURE.