Planters Wants Everybody Reading off the Same Page

Bank Technology News | March, 2010

There’s increasing regulatory and market pressure on lenders to get all loan officers making decisions on potential borrowers in exactly the same way, and Planters Bank hopes to ensure that consistency by automating and integrating decisioning processes.

The $550 million-asset Mississippi-based bank, which has about 24 loan officers, has implemented software from Cypress Software Systems, called Mark IV, to standardize how loan officers apply guidelines on decisioning metrics that seem static—such as loan to value, debt to income and credit scores—but can subtly vary based on the interpretation of local loan officers, meaning otherwise similar applicants may receive different results.

“We want to make sure all loans are handled the same way. Now all of the loan officers are in a box, and if they’re outside the box, there’s accountability,” says Alan Hargett, evp and chief credit officer for Planters Bank.

When using Mark IV, staff electronically input application information while interviewing customers. The software then quickly retrieves credit reports, analyzes the capacity for repayment, and imploys the institution’s loan policies. The attempt is to ensure adherence to underwriting rules for reporting and auditing purposes.

The software also includes an updated Mark IV Mortgage Processor Module that helps Planters Bank comply with current RESPA requirements and the NADA Automobile Valuation and BITI Geocoder modules (geographic-based data used in valuations and lending decisions).

Cypress is hoping to capitalize on a trend toward more detailed reporting on underwriting and decisioning procedures for internal and auditing purposes.

“Examiners are looking at banks, and they want to know about lending policy,” says Steven Croft, an evp at Cypress. “They want to know that all loans were process the same, by the same rules.”