The materials available in this article are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your own advisors with questions regarding the MeridianLink Pathway content herein. The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the individual authors and may not reflect the opinions of MeridianLink, Inc. The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the individual authors and may not reflect the opinions of MeridianLink, Inc.
“Pathway keeps near-ready applicants connected to your financial institution, giving them another opportunity for ‘Yes’ in the future.” — Wesley Zauner, Vice President of Product Management, MeridianLink
For borrowers, lending experiences often wind up feeling slow and frustrating at best and confusing and impersonal at worst.
Adverse action notices tend to evoke feelings more in line with the latter: A generic letter regretting to inform the applicant of a decline decision, offering vague, coded rationale and little guidance on where to go from there. That’s it. The end. Conversation, and relationship, snuffed out right as the first sparks emerge.
MeridianLink Pathway reimagines the adverse action experience as an ongoing conversation rooted in transparency, education, and support.
Our very own Nathan Pinto and Wesley Zauner expanded on this solution in a recent webinar. Check it out to see Pathway in action.
70% of declined applicants never re-apply with that financial institution
That loss stings more sharply when you consider that as many as 30% of declined applicants are on an upward financial trajectory. And when those applicants decide to try again, they often turn to a different institution rather than the one that previously declined them with zero follow up.
MeridianLink Pathway keeps those future-ready relationships within your institution by working with applicants to reach approval.
Empathetic & educational adverse action notices
Adverse action notices tend to leave applicants with more questions than answers. Pathway takes a different approach. It clearly explains the reasons for being declined, offering educational resources, tools, and guidance based on the decision rationale.
Personalized path to yes
From the notice, the applicant is provided a simple flow requesting identity verification, required contact details, and debt-to-income and budget information.
For existing accountholders, that setup is even quicker thanks to connectivity with core systems, the MeridianLink® One platform, and third-party integrations. With data flowing seamlessly and securely, it can readily pull existing accountholder information to auto-populate required fields.
At this stage, Pathway performs a soft pull from your preferred credit bureau and compares that data against the reasons for the decline as well as your institution’s underwriting parameters.
The applicant is then presented with a personalized dashboard outlining their path to qualification for their desired product(s).
Guided support, progress reports, & supplementary resources
This dashboard is where relationships are built, and future-ready opportunities are realized. Here, applicants can see and manage their path to yes with:
- Personalized, step-by-step guidance on which actions to take next.
- Monthly progress reports detailing changes and new credit opportunities as they emerge.
- A quick-view display of the applicant’s credit score, credit health, open accounts, goals, and milestones.
- Educational resources and tools to support financial well-being and readiness.
- Cross-sell offers tailored to the applicant’s specific needs and goals, such as credit building products.
With every milestone met, relationships deepen as you prove to be a trusted advisor. That trust makes all the difference when the final qualification threshold is crossed. You stuck by them, presenting an alternate path forward that other institutions failed to see. And in keeping those relationships active, engaged, and nurtured, you’ve given people a reason to come back when it’s time to re-apply.
Take a closer look at MeridianLink Pathway
In the session, you’ll also learn more about Pathway benefits and capabilities including:
- Intelligent workflows supported by behind-the-scenes compliance protocols that make it easy to finally transition to fully digital notices.
- Configurable daily reports from CLOS sent via a secure SFTP.
- Automated communications to keep applicants up to date.
- A simple implementation process designed for rapid onboarding.
- An operations overview dashboard tracking total applicants in the future-ready funnel, total loans funded from this funnel, credit metrics, credit score improvements, and more.
- Reports on adverse action notices detailing the number of notices sent in the defined period, their corresponding products, delivery status, and decline dates.
