The Linked Income feature in IncomeXpert helps you qualify borrowers who have variable income and have changed jobs one or more times over the past two years. This is especially useful when analyzing income consistency across employment transitions.
What is Linked Income?
Linked Income allows you to combine income from multiple jobs — both current and previous — into a single, averaged income stream. This approach helps underwriters and loan officers establish a stable and realistic income estimate, especially when borrowers work in industries where job changes and variable pay are the norm.
When to Use Linked Income?
Linked Income is ideal for borrowers who:
- Have switched employers within the last two years
- Earn variable compensation such as overtime, tips, commissions, or bonuses
- Work in short-term or assignment-based roles such as travel nurses, union tradespeople, or gig-based employees
These borrowers often require their income to be averaged over a two-year period to meet underwriting guidelines. By linking their income records, IncomeXpert provides a compliant and accurate picture of total qualifying income.
How It Works
When enabled, Linked Income allows you to combine income records from multiple employers into a single income stream. This enables more accurate year-over-year income averaging and supports evaluation in accordance with agency guidelines.
To use Linked Income:
- Ensure each job is entered as a “VOE/VOI Year-End Paystub” income type.
- Select the jobs you wish to link.
- IncomeXpert will merge the data and apply all relevant calculations.
Important: Linked Income does not support income entered under the “Paystub/W2” income type. This is due to underwriting rules that require year-end documentation to assess variable income consistency across jobs.
Advisory Integration
All advisories shown at the bottom of the income screen take into account the combined histories and guideline thresholds for each linked job. This helps ensure you’re alerted when minimum documentation or employment history requirements are not met.
Additional Support
If you’re evaluating a borrower with frequent job changes or complex variable income, Linked Income helps streamline the process and reduce guesswork.
Want to see it in action?
Watch our Linked Income video walkthrough for a step-by-step demo.