Case Study

The HELOC They Thought Was Impossible

A real estate professional and her husband had been turned away everywhere else. Loan officer Oscar Garcia used a Digital HELOC and Plaid verification to finally get them approved — and change what they believed they could qualify for.

Digital

HELOC program used

0

Traditional tax docs required

Plaid

Income & asset verification method

81%

Our Approval Rate

The Challenge

They came in expecting another denial

The borrower is a real estate professional who, alongside her husband, had spent months running into the same wall at every lender they approached. Their tax returns — a recurring problem point — kept triggering the same result: denial. After enough rejections, they had stopped believing a HELOC was even an option for them.

By the time they came to Truss Financial Group, their expectations were low. They weren't looking for a miracle — they were bracing for the same outcome. The challenge wasn't just finding the right product; it was proving that the right product actually existed.

The Solution

What made the deal work

Oscar Garcia bypassed the tax documentation entirely by using a Digital HELOC with Plaid-based income and asset verification. Instead of asking for the same documents that had caused problems at every prior lender, Plaid connected directly to the borrowers' financial accounts — pulling real-time income and asset data without relying on returns that didn't tell the full story.

This wasn't a workaround — it was the right tool for the situation. The digital verification method gave underwriting a clear, accurate picture of the borrowers' financial position and removed the single biggest obstacle that had been blocking them everywhere else.

Approved — and their expectations reset

HELOC approved

Access to equity they had been told wasn't available to them

Tax road block removed

Plaid verification eliminated the documentation issue entirely

Expectations changed

Borrowers walked away knowing what they can actually qualify for