As rideshare and gig workers, it can be difficult to prove our income. The information needed for loan providers isn’t readily available or easily provable when it comes down to it. Argyle is an amazing company that can help with this, and in an easy to use way. Tyler Philbrook tested out Argyle’s services. Let’s see how they fared.
Before the gig economy became so popular, you most likely only had one W-2 job, maybe two. Now with gig work becoming more normal, it’s tougher to prove your income than before.
As an employee, you received regular paychecks, and a W-2 every year and this paycheck was the only source of income for the vast majority of people.
Now, almost everyone has multiple income streams, and it can seem entirely too overwhelming to keep track and prove. Fortunately, that’s where Argyle steps in to help. We’ve done an Argyle review before as the company offers a number of valuable B2B (Business to Business) services. Many of the top companies like Solo, Buckle and Gridwise use Argyle to verify your earnings so they can provide you with better quotes, more information, etc.
But now Argyle has launched Argyle Verify which is their first B2C (Business to Consumer) product so you can sign up for it and use it directly.
Quick Summary:
- Use Argyle Verify as a one-stop shop to prove your income.
- Argyle can help you verify your income to gain new employment, qualify you for renting an apartment and even when buying a house.
- You can even send reports to yourself to have on hand prior to an appointment with a new landlord or dealership.
What Is Argyle?
According to Argyle’s website, “Argyle is a third-party verification service that allows anyone to securely share their income, job title, and proof of employment information with lenders, background check companies, human resources, or any other party you choose.”
Essentially, what that means is that anyone you choose to give the information about your income to, Argyle can help compile that data, rather than you attempting to manually gather the data yourself.
Not only have we written at length about Argyle before, but Harry had the co-founder and COO of the company on the podcast.
They provide the technology that makes it easier for gig workers to access their employment and financial records through platforms like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and others.
Argyle’s Value Proposition to Gig Workers
So, aside from making it easier to gather your employment information, what’s the real benefit of what Argyle offers? Here are some ways Argyle can benefit gig workers, including rideshare drivers.
Gaining new employment
Argyle’s information could help you with finding new employment.
Some companies won’t hire you unless you have some sort of proof of previous employment. If you took time off to work on your own hobby, side business, or something else and used Uber and Lyft to supplement your lifestyle while you did that, then this will easily show where your money came from.
There are also some huge financial-related things that can be hard or impossible to get without proof of income.
Apartment
If you want to rent an apartment, the landlord or management company will most likely run a background check on you. Not only that, but they will likely also check for proof of income.
If you have a regular 9 to 5 with a paycheck, this is no problem, but if you’re just out of reach, that few hundred dollars a month from rideshare driving on the weekends can make the difference between being accepted or not.
Credit Cards
Depending on your credit, it can be difficult to get a credit card. Or if you’ve had your eye on one of those awesome reward cards that everyone seems to have, without proof of income it can be difficult or impossible to get.
If your credit is bad enough, even a secure credit card may require good proof of income to acquire.
Car
As a rideshare driver, it’s just a fact that we will get new cars more often than people who only drive their car to and from work every day. When that time comes, we will need to have some way of showing the lender that we do have the ability to make that car payment.
Home
Without a doubt, the largest purchase you will ever make, and you want the bank to consider every single penny to get you the largest amount, and the best interest rate.
Not only that, but you have to prove where the money came from. So, for instance, if you drive for Uber for a year and save $10,000, you have to show the bank where that money came from.
How It Works
Argyle’s coverage encompasses almost 100% of gig platforms, including Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Lyft. You can try it out yourself to confirm eligibility and generate an employment verification report.
1. Go to Argyle.com/verify
2. Search for your employer, payroll provider, or gig platform and connect your account
3. Generate your report and send it directly to the party of your choosing
Final Thoughts
Over the years, I have had to prove my income many times for most of the things mentioned above. I just wish there was a service like Argyle when I did that to make it easier!
That being said, I did have a few issues with the service.
First, the only way I could get the report sent to me was to add myself as the “employer” it was being sent to. So, I had to add my own email for the process and add the same email for a “third party” to send the report to as well.
Of course, the reason for using this service is so you can provide that information to a third party, however, I always like to see what I’m sending someone before they get it. That allows you to make sure everything is included and it’s accurate.
Another issue I had was that it took several times to get the report. I submitted the report, waited several hours, checked my spam, and got nothing. Did it a second time, waited around 3 hours, and then I finally got the report.
The report itself was absolutely amazing. It was thorough, had everything I would need to include, easily tied into Uber and Instacart, and 3 hours isn’t a horrible amount of time to wait for such a good service. The issue is that I had to submit it 3 times to get one report. I also attempted a more detailed one with a few other services I work for and never received a copy of it.
All and all, this is a great service that can help gig workers. Like most tech companies, there are a few kinks that need to be ironed out., but overall if this was around a few years ago when I was trying to get my car or buy a house, it would have saved me many hours, and helped me sleep better at night.
Why not try them out and see what you think? Tell us about your experience when you do!
-Tyler @ RSG
