Lending software in the Philippines, a buyer's guide.

A lending company makes money on the schedule and loses it in the gaps: a loan released without approval, a payment posted to the wrong month, a past due account nobody called. The system should make every step leave a record and every number come from the same schedule.

• Applications with borrower details, IDs, employment, co-makers and references.
• Credit investigation and approval by limit and by role.
• Amortisation schedules by interest method, term and payment frequency.
• Disclosure statement and promissory note printed from the loan itself.
• Releases, payments, post-dated checks, payoff quotes and statements of account.
• Past due lists, collector assignments, promises to pay and demand letters.

A lending company must be a corporation registered with the SEC and hold a Certificate of Authority to operate under RA 9474. It reports to the SEC on its operations and its branches as the SEC's rules require. Online lending platforms must also be registered and disclosed to the SEC.

The SEC caps interest and fees on small, short-term loans and prohibits unfair debt collection practices: threats, insults, contacting people in the borrower's phone contacts, calling at unreasonable hours and shaming in public. A system should keep every collection contact on record so the company can show how each account was handled.

The Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (RA 11765) gives borrowers the right to clear information, fair treatment and a way to complain, and makes the SEC the regulator for lending companies under it.

Under the Truth in Lending Act (RA 3765), the borrower must receive a written disclosure of the full cost of the loan before it is signed: the amount financed, the finance charges and the effective interest rate. The disclosure should be generated from the same figures as the schedule, never typed in separately.

Lending companies also submit borrower credit data to the Credit Information Corporation under the Credit Information System Act (RA 9510), and those covered by the Anti-Money Laundering Act report to the AMLC as its rules require.

A spreadsheet schedule can be changed after the loan is signed, and a payment typed in the wrong row moves every balance after it. A system locks the schedule at release, applies each payment to penalties, interest and principal by one rule, and shows the ageing of the whole portfolio on any day.

A small lender may only need loans and payments. A company with branches, collectors, employer salary deduction and its own books does better when releases, collections, write-offs and provisions post straight to the accounting ledger.

IDs, payslips, bank details and credit history are personal information under RA 10173, and government ID numbers are sensitive. Collect only what the loan needs, limit who sees it by branch and role, never use a borrower's phone contacts for collection, and keep an audit trail.