Independent credit review

The Independent Credit Approver reviews the application, borrower context, requested principal and supporting material as one decision package. The decision record identifies the application revision, reviewer, choice, time and reason. That combination matters when a request is corrected later: the team can explain which facts were before the reviewer at the time, rather than relying only on the application’s current status.

Review and preparation belong to different people. The Credit Officer owns the draft and supplies corrections; the Independent Credit Approver accepts or rejects the reviewed request. A returned request goes back to preparation with its reason intact. The approver should not approve their own submission through a different screen or a direct record edit. The App Administrator maintains membership but does not acquire credit authority just by administering the app.

• Review queue. Keep requests awaiting a decision visible with owner, borrower and revision.
• Decision record. Preserve the reviewer, reason and source revision for each decision.
• Operation trail. Pair guarded actions with an operation key and receipt so a repeat can be recognized.

Decide which evidence is necessary before review starts, which reviewer may act for each organization and how a revised amount is returned to the reviewer. Agree whether a returned request goes back to draft preparation or remains under review until corrected. Define who may inspect an old decision, who may add an explanatory attachment and how a disputed decision is escalated.

The operation receipt has an expected revision and a result state. It is useful when the same request is retried, but the receipt must point to the actual decision and status effect. If the effect cannot be located, investigate the receipt instead of assuming the action completed. That check protects the record trail around both approval and rejection.

An officer submits an application, then discovers the requested principal should change. The reviewer records a return reason against the revision they received. The officer corrects the request and submits the new revision. A second reviewer decision refers to that new revision. The Auditor can read both decisions and the reasons, while the current application status reflects the latest authorized path. If the preparer tries to approve the corrected request, the independent review rule prevents it.

• Applications Under Review — Requests ready for independent examination with their owner and revision.
• Application Status Board — A status-based view of requests progressing through decision and provider stages.

See application review and evidence review.