Category
Lending & Credit Decisioning
Lending infrastructure vendors provide origination, decisioning, servicing and collections for consumer, SMB and embedded credit products. Compare on product coverage (installment, BNPL, revolving, working capital), decisioning flexibility, integrations and time-to-launch.
In one minute
What it is
Software and services to originate, decide, service and collect credit — instalments, BNPL, revolving credit, working capital — inside your own product.
What you get
Application flows, data connections, decision engines, loan management, repayments, statements, hardship and collections tooling.
What you still own
Credit policy, risk appetite, customer relationship and — unless a partner lends — the regulatory permission and the money being lent.
When you need it
When you want to offer credit to your customers, or when your current lending stack limits new products.
How it works
Lending needs three things: permission to lend, money to lend and the software to run it. Providers can supply one, two or all three — establish which.
Who does what
| Task | You | Provider | Lender of record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit policy | Owns or co-owns | Implements in the engine | Approves |
| Application flow | Presents | Supplies | — |
| Data retrieval | Obtains consent | Connects sources | — |
| Decision | Sets rules | Executes | Accountable |
| Disbursement | Triggers | Orchestrates | Funds |
| Servicing | Customer contact | Schedules, statements | Oversees |
| Collections and hardship | Customer contact | Tooling | Accountable |
| Regulatory reporting | Supplies data | Prepares | Submits |
Credit policy
- You
- Owns or co-owns
- Provider
- Implements in the engine
- Lender of record
- Approves
Application flow
- You
- Presents
- Provider
- Supplies
- Lender of record
- —
Data retrieval
- You
- Obtains consent
- Provider
- Connects sources
- Lender of record
- —
Decision
- You
- Sets rules
- Provider
- Executes
- Lender of record
- Accountable
Disbursement
- You
- Triggers
- Provider
- Orchestrates
- Lender of record
- Funds
Servicing
- You
- Customer contact
- Provider
- Schedules, statements
- Lender of record
- Oversees
Collections and hardship
- You
- Customer contact
- Provider
- Tooling
- Lender of record
- Accountable
Regulatory reporting
- You
- Supplies data
- Provider
- Prepares
- Lender of record
- Submits
Use cases
Launch an embedded BNPL product
Offer split-pay or installment credit at checkout with decisioning, disbursement and servicing bundled.
Read the use caseUnderwrite SMB working capital
Combine open banking, accounting and bureau data to score SMBs and originate flexible credit lines.
Read the use caseService consumer loans end-to-end
Handle amortization schedules, repayments, hardship flows, statements and collections.
Read the use caseBuild a credit card program on modern rails
Combine a card issuer with a decisioning and ledger engine to launch a revolving credit product.
Read the use caseWhat to compare
Product coverage
Not every platform supports every credit type
Ask: Which products are live in production today?
Decision engine
Your policy must be expressible
Ask: Rules, scorecards, model hosting, champion–challenger testing?
Data integrations
Better data, better decisions
Ask: Bureaus, open banking, accounting data per market?
Explainability
Customers and regulators ask why
Ask: Adverse-action reasons and decision records?
Servicing depth
Most of a loan's life is servicing
Ask: Schedules, repayments, restructuring, statements?
Collections and hardship
Regulated and reputation-critical
Ask: Tooling, communication, forbearance options?
Lending partner options
If you do not lend yourself
Ask: Partner lenders available, and in which markets?
Reporting
Credit and regulatory reporting
Ask: Bureau reporting, portfolio analytics?
How providers charge
Platform subscription
Often tiered by active loans
Per application or decision
Data costs sometimes passed through
Per active loan
For servicing
Implementation
Product and policy configuration
Partner economics
Revenue share if a partner lends or funds
Ask each provider for the all-in cost at your expected volume, for year one and year three.
Regulatory context
EU
- GDPR limits solely automated decisions with significant effects
- SME lending is regulated differently by country.
UK
- Consumer Duty applies across the lifecycle.
US
- Fair lending and adverse-action notice requirements apply to credit decisions; many fintechs lend through bank partners.
Orientation only, not legal advice.
What providers will ask you
Have these ready before you publish.
- Credit product and customers
- Markets
- Expected applications and loan book
- Lender of record and funding
- Credit policy maturity
- Data you hold
- Timeline
Red flags
- "Supports BNPL" without live references
- Decision engines that need the vendor for every rule change
- No adverse-action reasons
- Collections left to "a partner" without detail
- Unclear who is lender of record
How Finlane fits
Your RFP covers
- Credit products
- Lender of record and funding
- Decisioning and data
- Servicing
- Collections and hardship
- Reporting
- Markets and volumes
- Commercials
- 1Scope your lending requirements with the AI advisor
- 2Matching providers receive your brief
- 3Compare structured responses side by side
- 4Shortlist and test your policy in their engine
Frequently asked questions
Buying in Lending & Credit Decisioning?
Post a structured RFP on Finlane and compare providers’ answers side by side. Free for buyers.