Updated 1/30/2025. Originally published 2/17/2023.
Time is a valuable commodity, so if you’re spending it in the wrong places, things can quickly become misaligned. Now more than ever, we are challenged to adjust our processes and use our time and other resources even more wisely. Businesses are learning to rely on tools and technologies that help streamline and automate their processes for greater efficiencies and better outcomes.
However, one area we continue to see many solution providers spending a lot of time on is the manual submission and management of credit applications. Many solution providers continue to phone in applications or send them in via email, and while on the surface, this may not seem like a task that would eat up an unreasonable amount of time, we ask you to take a purposeful pause and reconsider. Let’s break it down to understand what’s truly involved in a manual credit application submission.
Phoning or emailing in a credit application is not inherently bad, but the real question you should ask yourself and your team is this: Is manual submissions of credit application data really the highest and best use of your employees’ time?
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of those at your organization who are tasked with submitting manual credit applications. We’ll use the example of sending application information in via email.
First, they need to collect necessary information from their system, and communicate it accurately to the finance company. There are several key data points they’ll need to gather for the finance company to develop an understanding of the borrower’s credit history and their ability to consistently make payments should they move forward with the lease agreement. This means, your team member is likely gathering the following information from your system:
This means all this data is being manually retrieved from one system, say your company’s CRM, and then manually entered into another, in this case, an Outlook email message. To continue along with the email submission example, once the finance company receives this data, they will need to manually enter it into their system. Assuming the data is accurately entered, this still involves timely and redundant entry processes. Further, manual entry creates greater opportunity for errors which can delay decisions.
In thinking of all the steps involved in accurately completing a credit application and ultimately reaching an approval, you’ll start to realize it can add up to a large expenditure of time. Multiply the time spent on one manually entered application by the number of applications you are submitting daily, and suddenly it becomes painfully clear how much time these processes eat up.
In today’s hyper-competitive environment, having more time to book a few extra deals per day could make a big difference. Additionally, automating this process may also make work more enjoyable and gratifying for your employees.
The right tools and integrations have the power to transform your credit application workflow and ultimately reach faster decisions. Digital methods of credit submission allow solution providers to use lessee information they already have in their systems to automatically populate a credit application and send it directly to their financing provider. If you’re working with GreatAmerica, our digital application options send credit information directly into our credit scoring system, which means your app is immediately added to our processing queue so decisions can be delivered even faster.
RELATED: Learn About Digital Credit Application Submission
There are several benefits to digital app entry. At a high level, those using an electronic credit submission appreciate the following:
While it’s true others offer digital credit submission options, the biggest difference between how GreatAmerica approaches digital credit app submission and how we’ve seen many others approach it is that the GreatAmerica API allows for the direct and automatic flow of credit application data from the entry point (through an integration with your CRM, our info-zone portal, or our SnappShot® mobile app), right into our credit scoring system. Many still require the manual step of receiving the data, and then manually entering this data into their credit scoring system. Because we cut out the middleman completely, the decision process can be expedited so you can fund more deals faster.
RELATED: What Can You Expect in the Credit Application and Funding Process?
There are three primary ways you can submit a credit app digitally to GreatAmerica.
GreatAmerica integrates with industry-relied-upon CRMs to make this as simple as possible. By integrating with your system, we extract lessee information from the system you use and send it directly into the GreatAmerica credit scoring system. Not only does this fully automate the credit application process, but it also makes it easy to manage any applications after submission. Changes to previously entered applications are easily made and you can keep tabs on the process by viewing the status of a pending application.
RELATED: Learn about our InteGREAT API
If you are a sales rep who is frequently on the road, you may find our SnappShot® mobile application is the most convenient way to submit a digital credit application. Simply download the SnappShot® app to your mobile device and submit a credit application from anywhere. Even cooler, the app allows you to snap a photo of your customer's business card with your device’s camera; necessary information is captured via smart-reader technology and then used to populate and submit a credit application directly into the GreatAmerica credit scoring system
Our online info-zone portal is a third option. Simply log on from your computer or mobile device, navigate to the credit application menu item, enter your customer’s information, and hit ‘submit’ to send all pertinent information right into the GreatAmerica credit scoring system.
If you’re ready to explore the digital credit application options that will best suit your needs, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to integrations@greatamerica.com to talk to our strategic technology team about implementing one or more of these options.
GreatAmerica excels at simplifying business—whether through streamlined billing solutions, efficient sales tools, readily available team members, time-saving integrations, or simply by delivering on our promises. Curious about how we can enhance your customers’ experience while offering financing? Reach out to us by clicking the button below and let's start exploring the possibilities.