A commercial borrower’s finances keep changing after a loan is approved, as invoices are collected, inventory is purchased and payroll comes due.
Continuous underwriting brings that activity into the purview of credit reviews. Payment receipts, account balances and operating records offer lenders information about repayment capacity between scheduled reviews, with implications for credit limits, financing offers and, should a borrower’s finances deteriorate, the prospect of intervention.
PYMNTS coverage documents efforts to connect business activity with credit decisions. PYMNTS Intelligence research supplies the backdrop. Businesses value flexible borrowing terms, while lenders report weaknesses in the information used to assess small firms. The research doesn’t measure industrywide adoption of continuous underwriting.
Flexibility Has a Measurable Value
PYMNTS Intelligence’s report “The New Credit Playbook: Flexibility Fuels SMB Growth” found in November that small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) would pay an average of $126 annually for credit features such as dynamic limits or installment options. Businesses also planned 53% of their business card spending.
Adjustable limits affect purchasing capacity, while installment options spread repayment across defined periods. Both features connect credit terms to the way a business manages its expenses. Delivering them requires lenders to decide how much financing to provide and how repayment fits the borrower’s cash flow.
The need for that coordination extends beyond small businesses. PYMNTS Intelligence’s September Working Capital Index found that 83% of North American middle-market firms used a working capital solution. Early customer payments represented 12% of receivables, down from 35% a year earlier.
Fewer early receipts leave finance teams waiting longer for money previously available ahead of schedule. For a lender reviewing borrowing capacity, collection dates help explain why a business needs funding and how incoming payments support repayment.
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
Continuous underwriting connects these developments to credit review throughout the relationship. Its usefulness depends on interpreting changes in context, including the difference between a seasonal cash requirement and a sustained decline in collections.
Operating Records Enter Lending Decisions
Shipment and inventory records add information about activity that precedes payment. In an initiative scheduled for 2027, FedEx Dataworks and Stripe plan to use shipment activity, inventory movement and fulfillment performance to inform financing analysis through Stripe Capital, PYMNTS reported Oct. 6. The announced service places supply-chain records alongside information used to evaluate financing.
Reliable information remains a constraint. PYMNTS Intelligence’s “Keeping Score: Why Data Quality Determines Lending Decisions,” based on 350 financial institution executives in the United States and United Kingdom, found in June 2025 that 57% cited inaccurate or incomplete SMB records as an underwriting obstacle. Outdated information was cited by 52%.
Reviewing records more frequently leaves these weaknesses intact unless the records themselves improve. A missing payment feed, duplicate transaction or accounting correction requires verification before a lender treats it as evidence of financial deterioration.
Borrowers Need Predictable Access
For businesses, reassessment affects commitments already made. A retailer ordering seasonal merchandise depends on financing remaining available between the purchase and the collection of sales proceeds. Frequent changes in borrowing capacity introduce uncertainty into the mix. Lenders calibrate their decisions about which changes warrant action, how quickly to respond and when human review is required.
Faster origination can help speed funds through the commercial landscape. Customers Bank reported closing select commercial loans within seven days during an artificial intelligence pilot, PYMNTS reported Friday (Oct. 23). Continuous underwriting extends the work beyond closing, requiring lenders to evaluate subsequent evidence throughout the loan’s life.
Add as Preferred Source
