I'm building a lending app and need identity proofing before approval

For a lending app, identity proofing before approval is usually done as a risk-based, step-up verification flow. A practical approach is:

1. Collect core identity data

   • Legal name
   • Date of birth
   • Residential address
   • Government ID number where permitted
   • Phone/email

2. Verify possession of contact methods

   • OTP to phone/email
   • Device/session risk checks

3. Document verification

   • Capture photo of government ID
   • OCR extraction and validation
   • Check document authenticity/security features
   • Match ID portrait to selfie

4. Biometric/liveness check

   • Selfie with liveness detection
   • Face match against ID photo

5. Database and bureau checks

   • Address/phone/email consistency
   • Watchlist/sanctions/PEP screening if required
   • Credit bureau / KYC data sources where allowed

6. Fraud/risk signals

   • IP geolocation, VPN/proxy detection
   • Device fingerprinting
   • Velocity checks
   • Identity graph / reuse detection

7. Decisioning

   • Auto-approve low-risk users
   • Step-up review for medium risk
   • Manual review or decline for high risk

8. Audit and compliance

   • Store evidence and decision reasons
   • Retain logs per regulatory requirements
   • Get user consent for data processing and identity checks
   • Minimize data collected and encrypt sensitive fields

If you want to implement this well, I can help you with one of these next:

• a full identity-proofing workflow
• a vendor comparison for KYC/IDV providers
• a system design for your lending app
• a compliance checklist by region (US/EU/UK/etc.)