Can I check bank statements submitted by loan applicants?
Yes. Checking supporting documents from loan applicants is the main use case for lending teams: HTPBE? tells you whether a bank statement PDF was edited after it was generated.
What the check tells you
Each statement gets one of three verdicts:
- Intact — no structural evidence of editing was found. No adverse action is implied, but it is not a guarantee that the figures are true.
- Modified — evidence that the file was changed after it was created. Route it to a human reviewer.
- Inconclusive — the file’s origin can’t vouch for it, for example because it was produced in consumer software that anyone could use to create a statement from scratch. For a statement that claims to come from a bank, that is itself a reason to ask for the original.
A genuine statement from a bank whose platform renders PDFs with widely available tools can come back Inconclusive, which is why Inconclusive is not a rejection.
How to run it
- Ask applicants for the PDF as downloaded from their online banking, not a photo, a screenshot or a forwarded copy. A file that was re-saved or re-rendered on the way is a different file from the one the bank issued.
- Submit each statement through the API or the web app and store the check
idwith the application. - Branch on
statusand onusage_caution.recommended_action: human review for modified, a request to the issuer for inconclusive. - Log the result next to the decision, so a later review can see what the check returned.
What it does not do
HTPBE? does not read the content of the statement. It does not check balances, transactions or account ownership, and it does not confirm identity or income. A statement whose content was false from the start can carry no trace of later editing. The verdict should never be the sole basis for an automatic denial; it is one input to a reviewer’s decision.
See the fake bank statement detection guide for integration details.
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3 answers
How Detection Works
It depends on the file. HTPBE? detects modification after creation, not fabricated content: a document that was false from the start carries no trace of later editing. Use it as one layer of a fraud check.
Verifying Specific Documents
Payment confirmations are easy to fake, and a PDF of one is not proof that money moved. HTPBE? tells you whether the file was edited after it was generated; confirm the payment itself in your own bank or payment account.
Reading Your Results
Inconclusive does not mean forged. It means the file’s origin can’t vouch for it, so the check can’t clear it as Intact. Confirm the document with the issuer.