What Is Plaid and Why Does Settl Use It for Income Verification?
The short answer
Plaid is a secure bank connection tool used by Venmo, Cash App, and Settl to verify income. Learn how it works, what landlords see, and whether it's safe.
If you've started a Settl application, you've probably seen a prompt to "connect your bank with Plaid." Many applicants wonder: what is Plaid, is it safe, and why does Settl use it? Here's the complete answer.
What Is Plaid?
Plaid is a financial technology company that securely connects applications to bank accounts. You've probably used it without knowing — apps like Venmo, Cash App, Robinhood, Coinbase, and thousands of others use Plaid to verify bank accounts and read transaction data.
Plaid is SOC 2 Type II certified, trusted by over 12,000 financial apps, and used by more than 100 million US consumers. The connection is read-only: Plaid cannot move money, and Settl never stores your bank login credentials.
Why Does Settl Use Plaid?
Settl uses Plaid to verify two critical signals that landlords care most about — and that traditional documents cannot prove:
- Bank-verified income: Average monthly deposits over the past 3–6 months, including all sources (payroll, freelance, gig, rental income). Far more reliable than a pay stub, which can be edited in seconds.
- Rent payment history: Whether your bank transactions show 12 months of regular rent-sized outgoing payments — a signal that standard credit reports never capture.
These two Plaid-verified signals are part of your Settl Verified Passport — the portable, 8-layer tenant verification credential that costs $99 once and can be used at every property you apply to.
Under Colorado's HB25-1236 / PTSR law, landlords must accept qualifying portable reports like your Settl Verified Passport. That means your Plaid-verified income and rent history travel with you across every application — no re-screening fees, no duplicate paperwork.
What Does Plaid See? What Doesn't It See?
When you connect your bank via Plaid for Settl, the connection is read-only. Plaid — and Settl — can see your transaction history and deposit patterns, but cannot:
- Move or withdraw money from your account
- Store your bank login credentials
- Access accounts you don't specifically authorize
- Share your raw account data with anyone other than Settl
Is Plaid Safe?
Yes. Plaid uses 256-bit AES encryption and TLS for all data transfers. Your bank login is entered directly into Plaid's secure interface — not on Settl's servers. The connection complies with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) standards for open banking.
What Do Landlords See From Plaid-Verified Income?
Landlords don't see your Plaid connection or your raw bank data. What they see on your Settl Verified Passport report is:
- A verified rent ceiling — the maximum monthly rent your income supports (e.g., "Verified for rent up to $2,100/mo"), never your exact income
- An income consistency indicator — how stable your deposits have been month-to-month
- A rent payment history card — months with detected rent-sized outgoing payments
- An "Income: Bank Verified" label indicating the data came directly from your bank, not a document
Your actual account numbers, balances, individual transactions, and exact income figure are never shared with landlords. Straight from the source — that's what makes bank-verified income the most credible signal available.
What If I Don't Want to Use Plaid?
Plaid is used to generate the bank-verified income and rent history layers of your Settl Verified Passport. Without Plaid, those two layers will show as unverified on your report. You can still complete your Settl Verified Passport at $99 with the remaining layers (identity, payroll, landlord references, and credit/background when available).
For competitive rental markets — NYC, LA, Denver, San Francisco — bank-verified income gives you a meaningful advantage over applicants who only provide documents.
How to Connect Your Bank With Plaid on Settl
- During your Settl application, proceed to the income verification step.
- A Plaid popup will appear — select your bank from the list (most major US banks supported).
- Enter your online banking credentials directly in the Plaid interface (not on Settl's site).
- Grant Plaid permission to share your income and deposit data with Settl.
- Plaid verifies your income in seconds and populates your Settl Verified Passport with bank-verified data.
Start Your Settl Verified Passport With Bank-Verified Income
Bank-verified income is the strongest signal you can give a landlord. Get your Settl Verified Passport with bank-verified income for $99 — apply anywhere, pay once.
Settl Editorial
Settl Editorial
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