It’s Time to Optimise Lending

To optimise lending and grow the loan book isn’t a single goal.  Loan growth is the outcome of dozens of underlying drivers working together. How quickly do applications move through the system? What proportion of members complete the process versus walking away? How often do decisions require manual intervention? How does your lending policy and risk appetite match the applications being received?

At NestEgg, we’ve broken these drivers down into distinct performance metrics. Each metric is measurable. Each metric is improvable. As a result, we can work more closely with credit unions to optimise lending in multiple ways simultaneously. And with the same ultimate aim: sustainable loan book growth.

Metrics Within Metrics

Turnaround time is key. How long it takes a credit union to get from application to decision drives growth. Faster turnaround means more members complete the process, fewer withdraw, and the loan book expands.

However, turnaround time itself has underlying drivers. There’s assignment time. How long before an officer picks up a new application. And there’s processing time. The actual hands-on assessment work.

This layered view changes how credit unions approach improvement. Rather than simply ‘speeding things up’ it is now possible for credit unions to pinpoint exactly where time is being lost and focus efforts accordingly.

For example, we know that a significant portion of processing time is spent waiting. Not for decisions, but for data. A member may subsequently connect a bank account via Open Banking, but the Loans Officer doesn’t always immediately know it’s arrived until they manually check. That delay adds to turnaround time for no good reason. That’s why, over Christmas, NestEgg released a new feature: automatic notifications. These alert loans officers the moment something happens on an application. For example, an Open Banking connection completes or a wage slip is uploaded. We’re already seeing significant improvements to processing time as a result. Loan Officers can act while the member is most engaged, reducing post-application drop out. 

New notifications feature

The Power of Automation

Another growth driver is automation. Automating 50% of loan applications effectively doubles a credit union’s lending capacity without increasing costs. Staff time is freed up to focus on the cases that genuinely need human judgement, while straightforward applications flow through instantly.

But the ability to automate loan decisions only works if you can trust it. That’s why one of the most important metrics we track is the bad rate on auto-accepted loans. Auto-accepts typically run at around half the bad rate of their overall portfolio. And this is credit union automation – fast, but also fair and transparent. 

Being able to see this data clearly, and track it over time, gives credit unions the confidence to expand automation gradually. Each increment means more capacity, faster turnaround, and better member experience – without compromising loan book quality.

2026: The Year of Optimisation

These are just some of the ways NestEgg is helping credit unions optimise their lending in 2026. Our overall aim is to significantly increase the number of decisions that can be finalised the same day.

This credit union is now finalising 9 in 10 applications within 48 hrs

Learn From Credit Unions That Are Already There

Throughout 2026, we’re running a series of lunch and learn webinars where we showcase credit unions that have cracked specific optimisation challenges—withdrawal rates, automation, turnaround time, and more. These are real stories from real lenders, sharing what worked for them.

Our first webinar is an introduction to optimisation, objectives and an initial look at the data. In March we’ll focus on withdrawal rates. There’s a whole 12 months of insights on their way.

If you’re a NestEgg user, you can sign up now to secure your place. We have three spots available for credit unions that are considering choosing NestEgg for decisioning.

Next webinar: Lunch & Learn: Optimising Lending – Feb 4 from 12:30 to 13:00. Book your spot.