[Playbook] Saving Commercial Lenders Time During Tax Season

Here's the situation: Accountants aren’t the only people who feel stressed during tax season. Commercial lenders and their assistants feel the pressure, too—especially when borrowers forget to submit their tax returns in a timely manner.

Collecting updated documentation from business customers and members is essential for managing risk, but lenders have other pressing matters to attend to (like making new loans). This playbook explores best practices for using AccuAccount to streamline the collection of borrowers’ tax returns.

Using Technology to Reduce Tax-Related Distractions for Lenders

Relying on spreadsheets and manual mail merges can be incredibly time-consuming, error- prone, and generally ineffective. As a result, commercial lenders must get involved to resolve tax-related exceptions, diverting their attention from higher impact responsibilities.

Using an ECM system that’s optimized for commercial lending allows back-office teams to oversee tax document collection—without requiring constant oversight from lenders. Let’s take a look at a few AccuAccount features that make this possible.

Here’s the Game Plan

Configure Document Schedules: One of the biggest challenges involves knowing which borrowers actually owe you updated tax documentation. The document scheduler feature in AccuAccount simplifies the tracking of recurring documents like annual tax returns. Configuring a global schedule for tax returns automatically creates new document placeholders and triggers exceptions for past due items. 

Exception Reports & Subscriptions: AccuAccount offers standard exception reports, which efficiently surface documentation gaps during tax season (and throughout the rest of the year). Back-office staff, lenders, loan assistants, and other interested stakeholders can subscribe to receive exception data in their inbox. In addition, Dynamic Reporting for AccuAccount allows users to quickly build custom reports for a more detailed look.

Notice Letters & Emails: Stop exporting contact lists and merging them with tickler data. Instead, manage your notices within AccuAccount. Our software provides an intuitive “point and click” experience for preparing paper and email notices. And, with staged notices, you can create a multi-step sequence to remind borrowers about tax documentation. As soon as missing documents are scanned into the correct location, AccuAccount clears the exception and prevents the borrower from receiving further notices.

Thresholds: Last, but not least, AccuAccount supports “thresholds”—a handy feature that disables exceptions when commitment amounts or account balances fall below a specified amount. Using thresholds prevents unnecessary friction with borrowers while ensuring compliance with your loan policy.

Give Lenders Some Breathing Room During Tax Season

Do your lenders spend too much time on administrative outreach during tax season? Learn more about AccuAccount, Alogent’s ECM software that’s designed for the unique requirements of commercial lending.

Contact us to request pricing and a demo!

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