Address Verification

Address verification confirms that an applicant resides at their stated address. This is a common regulatory requirement for KYC compliance, helping prevent fraud and meet anti-money laundering obligations.

Verification Methods

TrustGate supports multiple address verification methods:

Method	Description	Use Case
Document Verification	Utility bills, bank statements	Standard KYC
Database Lookup	Credit bureau/postal data	Quick verification
Manual Review	Human review of documents	Complex cases

Accepted Documents

Primary Documents

Document Type	Accepted Age	Required Information
Utility Bill	3 months	Name, address, date
Bank Statement	3 months	Name, address, date
Credit Card Statement	3 months	Name, address, date
Government Letter	12 months	Name, address, date
Tax Document	12 months	Name, address, tax year

Secondary Documents

Document Type	Accepted Age	Notes
Rental Agreement	12 months	Must show current address
Insurance Policy	6 months	Home/auto insurance
Mortgage Statement	6 months	Property must match address
Council Tax Bill	12 months	UK specific

Document Upload

Via API

curl -X POST https://api.bytrustgate.com/v1/documents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
  -F "applicant_id=550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000" \
  -F "type=utility_bill" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/utility_bill.pdf"

Python Example

import requests
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
BASE_URL = "https://api.bytrustgate.com/v1"

# Upload proof of address document
with open("utility_bill.pdf", "rb") as f:
    response = requests.post(
        f"{BASE_URL}/documents",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
        data={
            "applicant_id": applicant_id,
            "type": "utility_bill",
        },
        files={"file": f},
    )

document = response.json()
print(f"Document status: {document['status']}")

# Check extracted address
if document["status"] == "verified":
    extracted_address = document["extracted_data"]["address"]
    print(f"Extracted address: {extracted_address}")

OCR Extraction Results

Utility Bill Example

{
  "id": "doc_456789",
  "type": "utility_bill",
  "status": "verified",
  "extracted_data": {
    "document_type": "utility_bill",
    "provider": "Pacific Gas & Electric",
    "utility_type": "electricity",
    "account_holder": "JOHN M. DOE",
    "address": {
      "line1": "123 Main Street",
      "line2": "Apt 4B",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "state": "CA",
      "postal_code": "94102",
      "country": "USA"
    },
    "statement_date": "2025-01-01",
    "due_date": "2025-01-25",
    "amount_due": 125.43
  },
  "confidence_scores": {
    "overall": 0.93,
    "name": 0.96,
    "address": 0.91,
    "date": 0.95
  }
}

Bank Statement Example

{
  "id": "doc_567890",
  "type": "bank_statement",
  "status": "verified",
  "extracted_data": {
    "document_type": "bank_statement",
    "institution": "Chase Bank",
    "account_holder": "JOHN MICHAEL DOE",
    "address": {
      "line1": "123 Main Street",
      "line2": "Apt 4B",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "state": "CA",
      "postal_code": "94102",
      "country": "USA"
    },
    "statement_period": {
      "start": "2024-12-01",
      "end": "2024-12-31"
    },
    "account_type": "checking"
  }
}

Address Matching

TrustGate automatically compares extracted addresses with applicant-provided addresses.

Match Logic

The system performs fuzzy matching to handle:

Abbreviations (St./Street, Ave./Avenue)
Minor spelling variations
Missing/extra unit numbers
Postal code format differences

Match Results

{
  "address_verification": {
    "status": "matched",
    "confidence": 0.95,
    "applicant_address": {
      "line1": "123 Main St",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "state": "CA",
      "postal_code": "94102"
    },
    "document_address": {
      "line1": "123 Main Street",
      "line2": "Apt 4B",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "state": "CA",
      "postal_code": "94102"
    },
    "differences": [
      {
        "field": "line1",
        "applicant": "123 Main St",
        "document": "123 Main Street",
        "similarity": 0.92,
        "note": "Abbreviation difference"
      },
      {
        "field": "line2",
        "applicant": null,
        "document": "Apt 4B",
        "similarity": 0.0,
        "note": "Unit number in document only"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Match Status Values

Status	Description	Action
`matched`	Addresses match within tolerance	Auto-pass
`partial_match`	Some fields match, differences noted	Review recommended
`mismatch`	Addresses don't match	Manual review required
`unverifiable`	Cannot extract address from document	Request new document

Document Age Validation

Documents must be recent to be valid:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

def validate_document_age(document, max_age_months=3):
    """Check if proof of address document is within acceptable age."""
    statement_date = document["extracted_data"].get("statement_date")

    if not statement_date:
        return False, "No date found on document"

    doc_date = datetime.fromisoformat(statement_date)
    max_age = timedelta(days=max_age_months * 30)

    if datetime.now() - doc_date > max_age:
        return False, f"Document is older than {max_age_months} months"

    return True, "Document age is acceptable"

Handling International Addresses

Address Format by Country

TrustGate normalizes addresses based on country:

United States:

123 Main Street, Apt 4B
San Francisco, CA 94102

United Kingdom:

Flat 2, 45 High Street
London
SW1A 1AA

Germany:

Hauptstraße 123
10115 Berlin

Country-Specific Fields

Country	Special Fields
USA	State (2-letter), ZIP code, ZIP+4
UK	Postcode, County (optional)
Germany	PLZ (postal code)
Japan	Prefecture, ward/district
Australia	State (3-letter), postcode

Configuration Options