Is your lending institution prepared to take on the influx of SBA PPP loan applicants? The process involves more than just clicking ‘Publish,’ but selecting the right loan origination software can cut down your time-to-launch from weeks down to days. The CARES Act roll-out promised a near-instant lifeline for businesses impacted by the coronavirus. However, lenders were ill-prepared for the fast-tracked timeline. Signed into law on March 27th, 2020, the initial list of lenders had only a week to get their systems up and running. Plus, the government released the final guidelines in the eleventh hour, mere hours before launch time.In December 2020, Congress renewed the business-lending program with an additional $284 billion in funding. The PPP has helped many businesses survive the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic since it was first included in the CARES Act last March. However, the deluge of applicants put largely unprepared loan origination software to the test. Some applicants spent hours anxiously tapping the reload button on banking websites. Others were met with lockouts and error messages. Poor origination software not only hampers your organization’s resources, but slows the flow of funding to businesses in need. How can you make sure your SBA PPP Loan roll-out isn’t fraught with the same frustrations? By selecting the right loan origination platform from the start. Here’s what you should consider.
1. Speed of implementation
When faced with a looming deadline, businesses tend to fall back on existing vendors—even if the technology is outdated. One glance over the shoulder of an airline or DMV representative, and it’s clear that most legacy software isn’t outfitted for fast-moving, dynamic updates. ‘Familiarity’ may seem like a tempting solution, but speed of implementation should be your top priority. Software solutions that require significant system overhauls and complex back-end coding typically take months to roll out. They might now tout fast implementation—simply because they’ve temporarily stacked support teams to guide loan providers through their cumbersome systems. Find a platform that promises quick, intuitive implementation every time instead of one offering onetime expediency.
