Credit decisioning for lenders
Credit decisioning is how a lender applies its credit policy to an application and gets a result it can explain. Done well, identical loans are scored identically, and the reason is on the record.
LASER Credit Access® builds this for lenders who run Salesforce. This guide is the starting point: what credit decisioning covers, where it sits in the credit process, and where to go deeper.
What credit decisioning covers
Every credit decision has three parts. If one is missing, the result is hard to repeat and harder to defend.
The inputs
Data from the credit report, such as credit score, collections, delinquent trade lines and inquiries, together with what the applicant entered on the application.
The rules
Your credit policy, written as conditions each file has to meet. Your credit team decides every threshold, and a lender can keep a separate rule for each loan program.
The result and the reason
A clear outcome for each file, with every condition that was checked and the value that was found, kept on the record for later review.
Where decisioning fits in the credit process
Decisioning is step four of five. The steps before it make the result trustworthy, and the step after it is where your people use their judgment.
- 1. ApplicationThe application is entered on a record in your system.
- 2. ConsentConsent and permissible purpose are documented before the report is requested.
- 3. Credit pullThe credit report is requested and its data is read into the record.
- 4. EvaluationThe report is checked against the default or selected manually decision rule.
- 5. ReviewYour team acts on the result. The evaluation stays on the record.
For the walk-through in Salesforce, see credit decisioning software for Salesforce lenders. For the whole path from application to funding, see the loan origination system workflow.
What changes when the rules run in software
A manual check depends on who looks at the file and how closely they read it. Two loan officers can reach two different results on the same report.
When your policy is written as rules and applied by software, the same inputs give the same result. The check can start as soon as the credit report arrives, and every file carries its own record of what was checked. That is what a consistent process looks like.
Your credit team still owns the policy. Software applies it. A person reviews the files that need judgment.
Read the longer version in our guide, What is credit decisioning?
Go deeper
Pick the question you are working on.
What is credit decisioning?
A plain-language guide to the inputs, the outcomes and the audit record.
Credit decisioning software for Salesforce lenders
How LASER DECIDE checks a credit report against your decision rules inside Salesforce.
Automated underwriting
Where an automated credit decision ends and underwriting begins.
The credit layer inside a Salesforce LOS
How decisioning works with the loan origination system you already run.
The loan approval process
Where the credit decision sits between application and funding.
Loan origination system workflow
The path from application to funding, step by step.
Credit reports and compliance inside Salesforce
Keeping the credit pull and the decision on one record.
Adverse action notice requirements
What comes after a decision that turns an applicant down.
Frequently asked questions
What is credit decisioning?
Credit decisioning is how a lender applies its credit policy to an application and gets a result it can explain. It reads data from the credit report, checks that data against the lender's rules, and records why the application passed or didn't.
How can lenders automate and standardize credit decisions?
Write the credit policy as decision rules, then have software apply those rules to every credit report the same way. Standardizing means the same inputs always give the same result. Automating means the check can run when the report arrives, so a person does not have to check every file by hand.
Is credit decisioning the same as underwriting?
No. Credit decisioning is the credit-policy check on the report. Underwriting is the wider review of the borrower and the loan, and it often uses the decisioning result as one input.
Do I need a loan origination system as well?
Usually yes. A loan origination system manages the loan from intake to funding. Credit decisioning handles the credit evaluation step and works alongside it.
General reference point, not legal advice. Each lender confirms its requirements with its own compliance counsel.
See how your credit policy would run.
Consistency of Process: Identical Loans Scored Identically.
Bring one loan program, and we will walk through it with you.