In Part 1 of this series, we showed how Fastlane makes underwriting relationship-aware—instantly and automatically approving the members your underwriters would approve anyway. But approving loans faster only solves part of the lending challenge.
In most credit unions, so-called auto-approvals can’t be fully trusted. They still require staff to double-check and clean up details before applications advance to processing or funding. This slows down the experience for members and creates extra work for your team.
That’s where Fastlane is different. Because its approvals are based on verified and trusted data, loans don’t stall out after approval. Instead, they move seamlessly into straight-through processing (STP)—turning an approval into a ready-to-fund loan in minutes.
The Problem with Traditional “Auto-Approvals”
Without true straight-through processing, here’s what happens today:
A member applies online.
The application flows into the LOS, a decision is rendered, and then the brakes get hit.
Lending specialists step in to hunt for red flags—like:
A missing housing payment.
An inflated income figure (an extra zero added by mistake).
Other inconsistencies that make the application questionable.
At this point, the application may get pulled back to underwriting, re-run through the decision engine, or even reversed—leaving the member disappointed and your team frustrated.
Even when an auto-approval stands, the loan usually isn’t ready to fund. Staff still need to:
Offer and record payment or collateral protection products.
Verify income, fraud, or identity when the system can’t.
Check membership eligibility and open accounts for non-members.
Clear auto-assigned conditions.
Coordinate disbursements.
If your look-to-book ratio is low, ask yourself: How much phone tag and manual cleanup happens before members can actually sign?
How Clutch and Fastlane Change the Flow
Fastlane flips the model. Instead of letting the LOS render a decision and pushing everything downstream for manual work, Clutch handles both decisioning and processing upfront. This bridges the gap between “Submit” and “Funded.”
With Fastlane:
Fraud, income, and identity checks are embedded in the workflow, with risk-based step-ups if something looks off.
Protection products are offered digitally and recorded instantly.
Membership eligibility is resolved automatically, and new accounts are opened for qualified non-members.
Sanity checks prevent unrealistic data—like the “burger flipper making $15k a month” scenario—from ever slipping through.
By the time a loan leaves Clutch, it’s verified and ready-to-fund. Your lending specialists don’t have to second-guess approvals—they’re working with airtight loans that can move forward immediately.
Why This Matters for Credit Unions
This is straight-through processing done right:
Faster member experience – From application to ready-to-fund in minutes.
More efficient staff time – No wasted hours re-checking “auto-approvals” that should have been clean.
Scalable growth – Increase loan originations without increasing headcount.
Trusted automation – Finally, auto-approvals that you can believe in.
With Fastlane, your automation isn’t just faster—it’s trustworthy. That’s the key difference between more decisions and better decisions.
Fastlane in a Sentence
Fastlane brings straight-through processing to life by decisioning and completing loan processing in Clutch, then surfacing only ready-to-fund loans to your LOS.
👉 Learn more and book a demo with our team today.
Recap: Fastlane Blog Series
This post is part of our 3-part series on transforming credit union lending with Fastlane. Catch up on the rest here:
➡️ Part 1: Your Unfair Competitive Advantage: You Know More About Your Members Than What’s on Their Credit Report
➡️ Part 2: Straight-Through Processing: Win More Loans with Less Work (you're here)
