Small business loans continue to become more important to community banks.
In fact, according to the FDIC, community banks represent almost half of small loans given to businesses or farms. Whether the entity is large or small, however, we all know that it’s essential to ensure that these businesses are creditworthy before making a loan or extending a line of credit. The challenge, though, is the amount of time that must be devoted to making that decision.
In this post, we’ll take a look at how one community bank was able to consolidate the multi-faceted credit authorization process into a more streamlined workflow.
Too Many Data Points
Our team at AccuSystems was recently contacted by a community bank (let’s call it First National Bank), as the institution searched for a more efficient means of evaluating the creditworthiness of commercial accounts. Its employees were constantly required to wade through a maze of information, manually extracting data from a variety of sources (such as third party databases, spreadsheets, or other internal sources).
The institution had the right data to make an informed decision; however, the challenge involved bringing all the information into a centralized location. Some lenders were saving files on their own machines, while others were printing documents. Needless to say, there was not a standardized approach to analyzing and acting on the data.
Streamline Credit Information into One System
After an in-depth review of the institution’s needs, our document management experts recommended that First National Bank migrate to a comprehensive, integrated ECM system such as AccuAccount. In addition to document digitization, multiple user access, and integrated exception tracking, a system like AccuAccount can also streamline the complex and time-consuming underwriting process for business loans (learn more about our AccuApproval app here). AccuAccount reduces the workload by creating interface points with your core or loan underwriting system.
Centralized Location for Making Credit Decisions
With AccuAccount now in place, its standard data fields, as well as other custom fields, can be populated with the information underwriters need faster and into a much more efficient system. Time gathering required information for a loan application is reduced significantly, as now there is no need to review other systems and repetitively input data by hand. Less manual entry also produces greater accuracy, which means better decisions on creditworthiness.
Another huge advantage is that the information pulled into AccuAccount from the interfaces is always kept current and does not require additional time to manually update. If a loan is approved, AccuAccount uses the interfaced fields to generate the credit authorization documents, which creates even more efficiency.
Likewise, First National Bank has found the time spent analyzing creditworthiness has decreased. This reduction in time means the cost, in terms of employee time spent, to produce a loan goes down dramatically. First National Bank also finds it is spending less time analyzing applicants that are not creditworthy, and administrators appreciate that staff is reducing time on activities that won’t reap a return.
Streamline Your Credit Approvals Today
Is your bank searching for a way to become more effective when processing business loan applications? Find out how AccuAccount can save your institution time and money as it assists with faster and more accurate loan-making decisions. Call an AccuSystems expert today.
