Painless Consumer Lending this Shopping Season

The shopping phenomenon that is Black Friday is nearly upon us and snapping at its heels is the holiday season. Many consumers will look to spread the cost of their seasonal spending splurge. They'll hope to secure a credit or lending decision simply and quickly. For merchants and lenders, satisfying this demand is all about fast and flexible risk decisioning and agile processes.

Consumers are beginning to consider the speed of online as the norm. They are familiar with instant access to banking, and shopping online and on the move. In other words, they're used to things being digital, simple and fast.

To deliver a timely, hassle-free credit or loan experience, lenders and merchants need to look to their consumer credit and lending processes. This means automating as much as possible and cutting the time and cost of updating and maintaining the IT that supports credit and risk decisions. To acquire and retain customers it's a good thing to speed up, simplify and make processes more efficient – to become that digital business in fact - but in the credit and lending business it'll also always be about minimising risk and staying compliant.

Last year, UK consumer credit increased by £1.3 billion in November, above the average monthly increase of £1 billion over the previous six months. Efficient credit and loan application processing is central to lenders meeting customer expectations, not just during spending spikes but at all times.