{"id":64609,"date":"2025-07-23T08:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gidulyan.com\/hub\/?post_type=product&amp;p=64609"},"modified":"2025-07-23T08:03:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:03:34","slug":"64609-keeping-score-why-data-quality-determines-lending-decisions-pymnts","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/smebanking.agency\/platform\/report\/64609-keeping-score-why-data-quality-determines-lending-decisions-pymnts\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Score: Why Data Quality Determines Lending Decisions &#8211; PYMNTS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Smaller firms aren\u2019t necessarily riskier &#8211; they\u2019re just harder to score. And without trusted data, too many lending decisions default to \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In \u201cKeeping Score: Why Data Quality Determines Lending Decisions,\u201d a PYMNTS Intelligence and Markaaz collaboration, we surveyed 350 financial institution executives in the U.S. and U.K. to understand what kinds of data banks need to underwrite small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) confidently &#8211; and what\u2019s still missing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inside \u201cKeeping Score: Why Data Quality Determines Lending Decisions\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nearly 3 in 4 lenders say better credit assessments would improve risk-adjusted returns. Yet only a minority call SMB lending profitable, especially for micro-businesses. The disconnect comes down to data: banks can\u2019t price what they can\u2019t verify.<\/li>\n<li>Fifty-seven percent of institutions cite inaccurate or incomplete records as the top barrier to underwriting small businesses. Others say the data is outdated or unverifiable. These aren\u2019t edge cases \u2014 they\u2019re systemwide failures.<\/li>\n<li>Six in 10 U.S. banks want real-time third-party data access. But only about half want full integration of that data into their systems. The gap shows the real priority: speed over infrastructure. Actionable data now beats perfect architecture later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These findings indicate a clear market signal: Underwriting decisions \u2014 and profitability \u2014 depend on reliable, timely data from third-party sources.<\/p>\n<p>Download the report to learn how SMB credit underwriting can evolve to meet lender needs and small business demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Half of financial institutions reject micro-business loan applications due to a lack of verifiable legitimacy. Among those with access to third-party data, confidence in credit decisions and lender profitability rises sharply. So, why do many lenders still rely on incomplete and outdated records that stall approvals and increase risk?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":64610,"template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[1842,2347],"product_tag":[2329],"class_list":["post-64609","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-sme-finance","product_cat-study-library","product_tag-pymnts","pmpro-has-access","first","instock","shipping-taxable","product-type-external"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Keeping Score: Why Data Quality Determines Lending Decisions - PYMNTS - SME Banking Platform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Half of financial institutions reject micro-business loan applications due to a lack of verifiable legitimacy. 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