In a mortgage, a VOE — a Verification of Employment — is the check your lender runs to confirm you actually work where you say you work and earn what you told them you earn. Underwriters use it to decide whether your income is stable enough to carry the monthly payment. Because your job situation can change between application and closing, most lenders verify your employment more than once before funding the loan.
What a Verification of Employment Is
A VOE is a document, phone call, or automated data pull that confirms your employment and income directly with your employer or a payroll database, not just through the pay stubs you hand in. It’s part of underwriting, and it happens because the lender has to trust the income figure your debt-to-income ratio is built on. If the numbers your employer reports don’t match what’s on your application, the lender will ask questions before moving forward.
What the Lender Asks Your Employer
Most lenders collect the information using Fannie Mae Form 1005, sent directly to your employer’s payroll or HR department.1Fannie Mae. Request for Verification of Employment The form asks for:
- Your job title and the date you started
- Your current base pay, shown as an annual, monthly, weekly, or hourly figure
- Year-to-date and prior-year earnings, broken out to include overtime, commissions, and bonuses for the current year and the two years before it
- Your employer’s assessment of whether your position is likely to continue
The two-year earnings breakdown matters most if part of your pay is variable. Rather than trusting a single strong pay stub, the underwriter averages the history to see what you actually bring home month to month.1Fannie Mae. Request for Verification of Employment
An authorized company representative signs the completed form. The form itself warns that federal statutes impose severe penalties for fraud or intentional misrepresentation on documents used to obtain government-backed VA, FHA, or USDA loans.1Fannie Mae. Request for Verification of Employment Lenders also cross-check the reported figures by having you sign IRS Form 4506-C, which lets them request your tax transcripts directly from the IRS.2Fannie Mae. Requirements and Uses of IRS IVES Request for Transcript of Tax Return Form 4506-C
Written, Verbal, and Automated Verifications
A VOE can arrive in three ways, and most loan files use more than one.
Written
The full written VOE on Form 1005 gives the underwriter the most detailed picture. Lenders lean on it when a large share of your income comes from commissions, bonuses, or other variable pay, because the two-year earnings history is what tells them whether your income is stable enough to meet the required debt-to-income ratios.1Fannie Mae. Request for Verification of Employment
Verbal
A verbal verification, often called a VVOE, is a short phone call or written confirmation the lender makes to your employer as a final check before closing. The point is narrow: confirm you’re still actively employed and not under notice of termination. Fannie Mae requires this within 10 business days before the note date for salaried employees, and within 120 calendar days for self-employed borrowers.3Fannie Mae. Verbal Verification of Employment
To prevent fraud, the lender has to look up your employer’s phone number through a third-party source such as a phone directory, the internet, or a licensing bureau, rather than dialing a number you supplied. An email from your employer’s work address is an acceptable substitute. For military borrowers, a Leave and Earnings Statement dated within 120 days of closing or a check through the Defense Manpower Data Center will do.3Fannie Mae. Verbal Verification of Employment
Automated
Many lenders now pull employment and income data instantly through payroll databases. The Work Number is the largest of these, storing records contributed by employers and payroll providers across the country.4U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Verification If your employer participates, the lender can retrieve your employment dates, job title, and income history electronically, often within minutes. If your employer doesn’t participate, the lender falls back on Form 1005, and turnaround depends on how quickly your HR department responds.
When the VOE Happens During Your Loan
Verification starts after you sign a release on your loan application authorizing the lender to contact your employer and pull your records. Most lenders try an automated database first. If that isn’t available, they send the written request to your employer’s HR or payroll department by secure email or fax.5Fannie Mae. Standards for Employment Documentation
Once the data comes back, the underwriter compares it against your original application. Any mismatch in income, job title, or dates can trigger a request for more paperwork: updated pay stubs, a letter of explanation, or W-2 forms. The review continues throughout origination, and the lender may reach out to your employer more than once if questions come up.
The last step is the verbal or written check within 10 business days of closing, confirming nothing has changed.3Fannie Mae. Verbal Verification of Employment If your closing gets pushed past that window, the lender has to re-verify before proceeding. Once that final check clears, the loan moves to “clear to close” and funding can happen.
If You’re Self-Employed
The employer-completed VOE doesn’t apply to self-employed borrowers. Instead, lenders verify your income mainly through your federal tax returns. Fannie Mae generally requires two years of signed personal tax returns, and, depending on your business structure, your business returns as well. IRS transcripts of those returns are an acceptable substitute if they’re complete and legible.6Fannie Mae. Underwriting Factors and Documentation for a Self-Employed Borrower In some cases one year is enough if additional conditions are met.
Lenders may also ask for business licenses, profit-and-loss statements, balance sheets, or proof of business insurance. And they have to confirm the business is still active within 120 calendar days of closing, usually through a third party such as a CPA, regulatory agency, or licensing bureau.3Fannie Mae. Verbal Verification of Employment
Job Changes Before Closing
Because your employment gets checked more than once, and again right before funding, changing jobs mid-mortgage creates real complications. Switching employers, even for higher pay, typically triggers a re-review: a new VOE from the new employer, updated pay stubs, sometimes a new offer letter. A change into a different industry, or a move from salary to commission, may force the lender to re-underwrite the loan, which can push closing back by weeks.
Quitting or being laid off before closing is worse. If the final verbal check shows you’re no longer employed, the lender will almost certainly pause or deny the loan, no matter how clean the rest of the file was. The safe play is to avoid voluntary changes between application and closing. If a change is unavoidable, tell your loan officer right away so they can figure out what additional documentation you’ll need.
If Your Employment Records Are Wrong
If your lender pulls your records from an automated database and the data is off — wrong job title, incorrect income, outdated dates — you have the right to dispute it. Under federal law, when you notify a consumer reporting agency that information in your file is inaccurate, the agency has to investigate at no cost to you and update or correct the disputed data.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
For The Work Number specifically, you can file a dispute online, by phone at 1-800-367-2884, or by mail. You can challenge employment dates, income figures, and personal information. Recent pay stubs, W-2 forms, an offer letter on company letterhead, or IRS tax transcripts help your case. The investigation may take up to 30 days. If you’re in the middle of an application, tell your loan officer about the dispute so they can account for the timing or work from alternative documentation while it’s pending.
Consent and Reviewing Your Own Records
A lender can’t pull your employment records without your permission. As part of the application, you sign an authorization letting the lender contact your employer and use third-party verification services. Federal law requires that before a consumer reporting agency provides a report for employment purposes, you receive a clear written disclosure and give written authorization.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports In practice, that consent is built into the loan paperwork you sign at the start.
You can also request your own Employment Data Report from The Work Number for free before your lender pulls it. Reviewing what’s on file in advance lets you catch and dispute errors before they slow down your loan.