Australian digital ID verification expands to mortgages
29 August, 2017
category: Digital ID, Government
Australia Post, the government-owned corporation that operates the country’s mail service, wants to provide an easily verifiable Australian digital ID to citizens there, an effort designed to boost security and efficiency for a variety of transactions. Now that push is expanding into mortgages.
Australia Post is a large repository for individualized data, which makes it easy to check such information as the consumer’s current location and changes of addresses, which are useful in verifying digital identities online
The agency’s fledgling verification-of-identity service could unlock some (AUS) $11 billion (US$8.73 billion) in “economic value for the Australian economy,” the agency says. That’s because consumers using and reusing a verified Australian Digital ID stored in a mobile device would not only save them the trouble of driving long distances to present identification documents in person, but also because new businesses could pop up if it were easier to verify customers, the agency says. The less friction when it comes to verifying digital identities, the less money and time is wasted on the authentication process.
Australian digital ID verification via change-of-address data
Now, Australian credit union CUA plans to test Australia Post’s Digital iD app for potential homebuyers. The deployment follows the use of the app for the agency’s MyPost Parcel Collect and Mail Redirection Service, and for the job-outsourcing site Airtasker and other organizations. Any consumer who wants to generate a Digital iD account creates a profile online—for instance, on the credit union’s website when opening an account. Australia Post is a large repository for individualized data, which makes it easy to check such information as the consumer’s current location and changes of addresses, which are useful in verifying digital identities online.
In fact, the credit union says that change of addresses stand as one of the main reasons that cause consumers to fail to verify their identities online. Such verification could help consumers fulfill the authentication requirements of the mortgage application process. At the very least, that means less time wasted driving to and from the credit union to take care of such a task in person.
The main idea behind the Australian Post ID verification project is to create an Australian digital ID that are universally trusted and recognized, and which can be re-used in both physical and digital transactions. Biometric authentication adds even more security to the process, and consumers could give consent on use of their digital identities on a case-by-case or agency-by-agency basis. Outside parties could develop their own services from the Australian Post technology and database, providing flexibility and nimbleness as more citizens there presumably adopt the digital identity standards.
