How Direct Data Access Improves Business Lending

A special report from LendIt and ForwardAI

In 2020, the world changed as companies began to turn to digital innovation to stay in business. Some companies innovated more than others, utilizing new data sets and direct data connections to improve their workflows. In the world of business lending, the service gap between innovators and traditionalists is growing.

ForwardAI and LendIt collaborated on a survey earlier this year to evaluate how lenders use small business client data to drive their credit decisions. Our report explores what we learned and the impact of these findings in the context of the small business lending industry.

Key findings from our report:

• 40% of respondents agree that manual documentation and data gathering negatively affect loan processes
• 15% of lenders are already using direct data collecting to access borrower information, compared to 47% of lenders who still use manual processes such as emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets
• 33% of lenders are collecting financial data within three days of an application, while 40% of respondents take more than one week and an astonishing 19% take more than two weeks
• Direct data access, combined with forward-looking insights, allow lenders to more accurately predict a business’s ability to repay a loan