“We have to look at loan forgiveness to incentivize young people to pursue degrees in areas where we know we need help.” – Elizabeth Esty
The commercial world and (a variety of) essentially material resources find multiple points of convergence that define key aspects of the contemporary economic, financial, industrial, and technological universe. These convergences merge with demand/supply paradigms to create products such as mortgages, loans, and credit instruments, among others. However, any attempt to understand loan processing requires us to evaluate access to such products in light of due diligence procedures, industry norms, evaluation processes, paperwork, credit profile/scores, and other paraphernalia.
Loan processing finds articulation as “the steps taken by an institution or lender from the time a request for a loan application is received to the time the loan is approved or denied, including taking the application, credit investigation, evaluation of the loan, and other steps.” Such lines of definition pose multiple levels of agency and complexity, and therefore, we must understand loan processing – and its attendant dynamics, scope, structure, and methods. Flowcharts – and similar instances of illustration – allow us to gain the proverbial handle on this critical and complex aspect of the modern financial services industry.
A majority of lenders pays close attention to pre-qualification activity prior to granting loans and mortgages; such activity primarily involves locating accurate information pertaining to income and debts of potential borrowers. Certain types of valuation can emerge when lenders process such information – inside flowcharts – as part of efforts to expand and understand loan processing systems and techniques. The illustrations could emerge in a variety of visual formats featuring stages, sub-stages, flows of information, nested tables, among others. In this context, pre-qualification criteria could find positioning on the left axis of flowcharts; this design technique enables readers to generate a clear impression of the preliminary stages of the borrowing process. In addition, designers may posit sets of sub-criteria in line with the information requirements of lenders and financial institutions. Clearly, the flowchart emerges as a premier platform that allows readers to appreciate and understand loan processing in different contexts.
Linearity – encased in a succession of stages – when devised inside flowcharts, could promote a detailed perspective on the mission to understand loan processing. These stages, when populated with paycheck information, bank account details, amount of the loan application, duration of loan payment, prepayment conditionality, and other lines of information, could help develop a narrative on certain preparatory aspects of loan processing. Designers could work to include a list of variables inside the flowchart, as part of attempts to generate detailed picture that helps readers to understand loan processing. In this context, specific providers of loans and other instruments could seek to include additional information that promotes a wider image of the technicalities that attend such processes. In essence, the flowchart can serve as a tool that educates customers and clients about the intricacies of accessing financial resources from modern lenders.
Documents represent a central aspect of lending activity; the centrality of paperwork and digital submissions is clear when we seek to understand loan processing in detail. A sequence of stages – when designed in flowcharts – can capture the diversity of documents that serve as pivots in loan processing and approval processes. In this context, designers may elect to construct a circular structure that posits a range of documents, projects the activities that surround these elements of printed information, and establish connections with the subsequent stages of loan process. Lenders of various hues could utilize said structure to inform/enrich the awareness of individual applicants, thereby ensuring seamless process of interaction between applicants and lenders. We note flowcharts present a certain flexibility when institutions modify/expand the scope of documentation in modern lending systems and processes.
Mistakes, errors, and instances of oversight could overwhelm the mission to understand loan processing; therefore, designers of such process could position checkpoints inside depictions staged on flowcharts as part of efforts to promote accuracy of information. The mechanics of checkpoints could include connections to a variety of digital databases, human supervisors, seasoned assessors, investigators, loan experts and advisors, and other such persons. Devices that raise a red flag in response to a discrepancy must feature inside such depictions; such flags could spark a series of reviews that enable lenders to reset every instance of the loan process. Flowcharts perform an important role in our efforts to understand loan processing; such illustrations also empower lenders to tweak loan processes in tune with the credit profiles dominant in certain markets.
“Loan analysis is an evaluation method that determines if loans are made on feasible terms, and if potential borrowers can and are willing to pay back the loan.” Based on this observation, lending institutions could work with creators of flowcharts to drive a nuanced analysis of loans and market trends – based on data and information emanating from successive quarters of lending activity. Such forms of analysis could help banks and lenders to de-risk their business model, and allow them to understand loan processing in complex, layered detail. Flowcharts can also take shape as learning instruments that encourage lending institutions to overhaul the varied aspects of lending to a variety of consumers; the information flows that animate flowcharts could spark new insights that drive the evolution of efficient lending practices, and ensure higher levels of sophistication (and functionality) inside loan processing systems and processes.
Lending guidelines based on “the maximum and minimum loan offers extended by the lender, associated fees, late-payment penalties, schedules, interest rates payable, and amount of loan based on the collateral provided” can steer the administration of loans in the contemporary world. We may seek to understand loan processing in its finer aspects through visualization based on flowcharts. Designers of diagrams could populate a flowchart with numbers, Dollar values, percentages, timelines, and other information in a bid to generate an outstanding, instructive visual that describes lending guidelines. Such enterprise could empower lenders to attract new business from under-served markets, thereby increasing the Dollar value of their loan portfolios. Additionally, flowcharts could promote transparency in lending processes, thereby helping all stakeholders to understand loan processing and its intricacies.
These lines of observation and analysis contribute significantly to expanding our understanding of loan processing from different points of view. We may now infer that the use of inter-connected diagrams/illustrations offers the best opportunities to explore/navigate complex and mundane aspects of such commercial process. In addition, flowcharts could help expand visibility into extant loan/credit processes, thereby creating scope for re-engineering or refinement undertaken in the interests of lenders and borrowers. Designers could also collaborate with lenders and institutions to discover new markets for loan products, thereby generating a boost for local economies in the long term.
Further, flowcharts – and a variety of similar schematic representations – could connect contemporary loan processes to the wider business interests of lending institutions; this could generate synergies between the different lines of business that operate inside said institutions. Such a technique can help integrate disparate processes that operate inside the modern financial services industry; the technique may further spark new lending ideas and practices. The outcomes could include higher profitability and faster recoveries of loaned monies in a world ruled by uncertainty. In enabling such scenarios, flowcharts rise above the level of mere analytical platforms to the status of business frameworks.
