What application intake means
Application intake is the work between a business asking for a loan and your credit team being able to assess it. The intake agent does that work. It does not approve the loan, set the rate or decide the terms. Your credit team does.
The intake starts when an enquiry comes in, by email or through the form on your site. It ends when your credit team has the answers, the documents, the checks and any open questions in one file.
What a complete application holds
The list depends on the product, but most business loans start from the same core:
- who applies, and their role in the company
- the company, its registration number and its register extract
- the directors and the ultimate beneficial owners
- the amount, the term and what the money is for
- the latest annual accounts, and interim figures late in the year
- recent bank statements
- existing loans and leases
- for asset finance, the quote or invoice for the asset
- for factoring, the debtor list and the open invoices
Where applications stall
An application form collects answers. An inbox collects attachments. Your loan system stores the result. The stalls happen in between.
- The bank statements stop two months ago.
- The accounts are from the year before last.
- The turnover on the form does not match the accounts.
- The registration number belongs to the holding, not the company.
- The quote for the asset is missing.
- A scan cannot be read.
- The applicant does not know which document you need next.
Each of these becomes an email to the applicant and a wait. The application is in your system, but your credit team cannot start.
Use Form. Fact. Verify.
Form
Build the application for one loan product. Ask for the answers and documents that product needs. When an answer changes what you need, for example an amount above a set limit, the next question changes with it.
Fact
Define the facts your credit team needs: annual turnover, operating result, date of registration, amount requested, term, existing debt.
Every fact read from a document links to its source. Your credit team can open the document on the line behind the value.
Verify
Check facts against each other and against the systems you already use, such as the business register or your own customer records. Show the result to your credit team.
A check that is not met is not a decline. It is a visible result your credit team weighs.
Ask the applicant while they apply
Do not wait for an analyst to find each gap. The agent asks the applicant for the missing item while they are still applying, in the same conversation.
The request is specific. It names the document or answer and says what is wrong with what arrived. It never shows an internal check or a credit rule.
Keep the decision with your credit team
The agent prepares the file and can draft the offer in your own letter. Your credit team decides. Keep these outside the intake agent:
- approving or declining the loan
- the rate, the fee and the terms
- exceptions to your credit policy
- fraud decisions
- sending the offer
Start with one loan product
Do not start with every product. Pick one that comes in often, has a clear document list and has someone who owns it.
- Choose one product.
- List the answers and documents a complete application needs.
- Define the facts your credit team needs.
- Define the checks that support intake.
- Run test applications, both complete and incomplete.
- Review every source link and every question to the applicant.
- Measure the time from first enquiry to a file ready for review.
Measure the intake
Track operational numbers:
- time from the first enquiry to a file ready for review
- rounds of back and forth with the applicant per application
- analyst time spent before the actual assessment
- missing items caught before review starts
Do not ask a model for an accuracy or confidence score. Review the evidence and measure the work.
Read where intake time actually goes for why the follow-up rounds cost more than the review.
See it for lenders
The home page follows one application from the first email to the signed offer.