Someone starts an application on a Sunday evening. Twelve minutes in, it asks for three months of payslips. He has two on his phone and the third somewhere in an email, so he decides to come back to it.
He never comes back to it. The lender records a drop-off and has no idea it was a payslip.
The teardown: where applications actually die
Not at the credit decision. At the moment an applicant hits a request for something they do not have to hand, on a device that makes finding it awkward, at a time when nobody can help.
Failure one: the document list appears mid-form
By then the applicant has invested ten minutes and now feels the process was a waste. Publishing the full list before the form starts lets them gather everything first.
Failure two: acceptable formats are unstated
Whether a photograph of a payslip is fine, whether a downloaded PDF statement counts, whether a screenshot of a banking app is acceptable. Applicants assume the strictest version and stop.
Failure three: self-employed applicants are an afterthought
They need different evidence entirely and often conclude they cannot apply. A dedicated explanation of what self-employed applicants provide recovers a substantial group.
Failure four: proof of address assumes a standard life
People living with family, recently arrived, in shared housing or with digital-only bills often have nothing on the list. Publishing the alternatives keeps them in the process.
Failure five: there is no save and resume
An application that cannot be paused is an application that must be completed in one sitting with every document present. Most people cannot do that.
Failure six: nobody explains what happens next
After submission, applicants hear nothing and assume the worst. Publishing the stages and timescales prevents both anxiety and chasing.
Failure seven: no help at the moment of abandonment
Someone stuck at eleven at night needs an answer about what counts as acceptable evidence. That answer is publishable and a person is not available, which is exactly what an assistant is for.
Failure eight: the decline route is undignified
Someone declined needs to know what happens next and where to raise a complaint, even where reasons cannot be given.
Failure nine: joint applicants are handled awkwardly
Two people applying together need two sets of documents, often gathered at different times and on different devices. Explaining how a joint application works, whether both must be present and how the second applicant submits their evidence separately keeps couples in a process that otherwise stalls the moment one of them is not in the room.
What to publish before the form
The full document list, acceptable formats, alternatives for common situations, roughly how long the application takes, what happens after submission and how long a decision takes.
Never assess an application
What someone can borrow, whether they will be approved and what their circumstances mean are regulated matters for staff, which is the boundary in mortgage and lending enquiries routed correctly.
Account opening has the same failure
It is covered in account opening questions new customers ask.
Documentary friction appears everywhere
It is the pattern in applicant screening questions for rental properties, and publishing answers once is argued in stop answering the same email twice, automate it.
Getting started
Publish your document list, acceptable formats and alternatives before the form begins, then answer evidence questions at any hour while applications stay with your team. SpideyChat for financial firms answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.