Unpacking Source of Funds: Your top questions answered

ISAs and gifts: Source of Funds for a variety of scenarios.

A common theme was how to manage fund sources that fall outside of a simple savings narrative.

• What about ISAs and other accounts that don't support Open Banking?
  While technology limitations mean ISAs can't be linked via open banking, Our upcoming bank statement scanning feature does allow for the reading of statements, regardless of account type. We have successfully tested the analysis of some exported ISA statements. As long as the document your client provides is clear and includes the information required, is in english and GBP, we can analyse it. For added assurance, the original document will always be included in the report's appendix for your review.

• How does the system handle a gift that has been declared but not yet received?
  Currently, our system will scan all shared bank statements looking for a transaction that meets the value and description of any declared gift. If we cannot identify a transaction that meets the description, we will not link a transaction in the gift section. In the future, we will be making changes to the app journey to ask your clients whether a declared gift has been received yet and will include this information within the report.

Improving the client journey: Document uploads, co-purchasers and security

We also had questions about the practicalities of the client journey and how to handle specific situations.

• What if a client doesn't have their mortgage offer at the time of the check?
  They can still finalise the report. The system allows them to upload a different document, like a decision in principle, under the "other" option. When they receive the final offer, they can easily add it later using the additional document upload feature.

• Is there a limit to how many bank statement documents a client can upload?
  No, there is no limit. This flexibility is to cater for different scenarios, whether a client is uploading a single PDF containing six months of statements or individual photos of each page.

• How do you help us reassure clients that the system is secure?
  We understand that security is paramount. Our system uses the same level of encryption as major banks and is FCA-regulated. We provide extensive documentation for you and your clients in our Help Center, and our UK-based support team is fully equipped to answer security questions. If you include an email when you initiate a Source of Funds verification, we will send them a welcome email which coincides with the SMS message they will receive inviting them to download Thirdfort and complete their verification. The email includes further detail about verification and the documents they will require. We find that when clients receive our introductory email, it increases their confidence and leads to faster check completion.

Understanding your SoF report: Joint accounts and red flag analysis

Finally, you asked for more details on what the final report shows.

• Does the report identify multiple small payments as a red flag?
  Yes. While the report flags large one-off payments, it also identifies the top 10 recurring transactions for both incoming and outgoing payments on every account. This helps to surface patterns of smaller payments that could also be considered a red flag. Every single transaction is recorded in the bank statements section and bank statements are included in full for additional review.

• Can the system analyse joint accounts?
  Yes, joint accounts are covered. We can link to them via Open Banking and analyse uploaded statements from joint accounts in the same way we do for individual ones.

• Is the price the same whether a client uses Open Banking or uploads a document?
  Yes, the price is the same. With the introduction of our new bank statement scanning technology, we can provide the same high level of analysis regardless of how the information is shared, ensuring you get consistent value.

Conclusion: Building for your real-world challenges

The questions raised in our webinar highlight the diverse and complex challenges you face every day. Our goal at Thirdfort is to build a platform that not only addresses today's requirements but also anticipates tomorrow's. By listening to your feedback on everything from corporate transactions to the co-purchaser journey, we can continue to evolve our Source of Funds tool to make your compliance process clearer, faster, and more secure.