Your Unfair Competitive Advantage: You Know More About Your Members Than What’s on Their Credit Report

Relationship-Aware Underwriting

Picture this: A long-time member applies for a $7,000 personal loan to install AC in their home. At first glance, the numbers raise concerns:

Debt-to-Income Ratio (DTI): 47% — high, especially for an unsecured loan
Income: ~$3,500/month — modest compared to the loan request
Purpose: A short-term home improvement project
Tenure: 9 years with the same employer, same role
Credit Score: 745

Most automated underwriting systems would flag this application. The elevated DTI and modest income would likely push it to manual review.

But here’s the bigger picture:

Payment History: Never a late payment, never an NSF
Relationship: Direct deposit with your credit union for over 10 years
Loan History: Borrowed $5,000–$10,000 four times before; always paid off early, never missed a payment
Revolving Debt: $0
Assets: $13,000 in a 5-year CD with you

When you look at the full relationship, doesn’t this member deserve an instant “yes”?

Where Traditional Automation Falls Short

Today’s automated systems don’t capture the whole story. They rely too heavily on bureau data and rigid ratios. In this case, the elevated DTI and modest income overshadow years of proven reliability.

For a new applicant, caution makes sense. But for a loyal, low-risk member, automation misses the mark. The result? Delays, frustrated members, extra staff workload, and in some cases, lost opportunities when members don’t want to wait.

Fastlane Brings the Art Into the Science

Underwriting has always been part science (scores, ratios, thresholds) and part art (judgment, context, relationships). Fastlane bridges the two.

Here’s how:

Relationship-Aware Logic: Automatically factors in tenure, repayment history, and relationship depth—the same insights a seasoned underwriter would apply.
Behavioral Context: Goes beyond “47% DTI” to recognize a member who has responsibly managed similar loans and paid them off early.
Configurable Guardrails: Define clear thresholds for auto-approval, step-up review, or denial. Example:
- Approve if the member has no existing unsecured balance.
- Step up for review if income has dropped since their last loan.
- Deny if unsecured exposure exceeds $5,000.

The result: Fast, disciplined decisions that respect both the data and the member relationship.

Why This Matters

The value of relationship-aware automation goes far beyond speed.

For Members: Instant answers build trust and deepen relationships.
For Credit Unions: Higher funding rates and fewer stalled applications. Staff focus shifts from routine approvals to true exceptions.
For Both: Smarter growth with balanced risk.

Fastlane in a Sentence

Fastlane encodes the judgment of your best underwriters into automation, giving loyal members instant approvals—without sacrificing risk discipline.

What’s Next

This post is part of our Fastlane Blog Series. Stay tuned for the next installment, where we’ll dive into how Fastlane enables straight-through loan processing.