Overview of Products

Presta is an end-to-end loan origination system that supports lenders from client intake through the end of loan servicing. This includes organizing borrower communications in one location for the whole team to access, providing an online borrower portal for a more streamlined borrower experience, handling loan disbursement and repayment within the platform, and aggregating lending data into a range of reporting options.

How does the product fit into the work cycle of a CDFI?

Presta supports a wide range of CDFI functionalities, including prospecting and the loan application process, underwriting, closing, booking, servicing, and reporting. Peña notes that the platform also supports the needs of a range of CDFI employees’ needs based on job functionality, such as loan officers who can use the product to begin applications and collect documents; portfolio managers and servicers with a range of reports to understand portfolio performances; senior staff who can utilize it to understand higher level lending and performance trends, etc. 

Are there other systems that your product works with? How does the product integrate with other platforms and systems?

The Presta platform supports integrations for programs that add on to the work of the platform, such as submitting data to credit reporting agencies and fraud prevention. Presta works with other applications, such as accounting systems via exports. Presta actively adds new integrations to its platform as needed by the lenders they work with.

What does onboarding generally look like?

CDFIs typically take 3 - 6 weeks to complete the onboarding process, which includes three steps:

1. Post-close kickoff: Once a CDFI commits to using Presta, Presta collects background information on the CDFI’s loan origination and servicing process to begin to provision their account on-platform. Presta’s team completes the initial setup for each of the CDFI’s loan origination and servicing workflows on Presta.

2. CDFI Training and Data Migration: Once a first draft of the CDFIs origination and servicing workflows is in place on the platform, Presta and the CDFI meet to review, make updates, and conduct lender training on the platform. Migration of historical portfolio data also begins at this phase.

3. Launch and ongoing customer success: Once the CDFI is live with Presta, Presta continues to support them with:

   1. Check-ins: at least quarterly, more frequently if desired

   2. Feature requests: feedback from CDFIs influences Presta’s product roadmap and ongoing feature development

   3. Release notes: CDFIs receive regular updates about new features that have been released.

     What support and training are offered?

Presta offers training that is responsive to individuals’ functional areas within CDFIs since different users need to have different levels of familiarity with certain aspects of the system. Training is broken out to match those functionalities. Presta offers group training followed by check-in meetings to respond to new challenges and ongoing training needs. Presta also offers training for third parties, such as a community organization that may be supporting the loan application stage. Finally, there is a library of support and training articles and videos that can be referenced by users as needed for subject matter training.

What makes adoption successful? What do you wish CDFIs knew before they began an implementation?

Peña notes that it is helpful for CDFIs to recognize that adopting a new technology is a part of a larger process change. He notes these changes may be simple, such as switching from a PDF application to an online platform for applications but can also be more complex and lead to reworking internal processes. He shared the example of how a lender with a newer loan product realized when onboarding and integrating the intake forms and other documents into Presta that they were not collecting all of the information they wanted to properly underwrite and evaluate the product.

Peña also shared that it is important to recognize that a change in platforms will require time and buy in to be successful. He noted that the person who decided to switch platforms is often not the primary end user, so changes are more successful when the end users’ experiences and input are included in the implementation.

What types of CDFIs use Presta – are there some that are a better fit?

Presta was built to accommodate all loan types. It was originally built for small business lenders but is inherently flexible and has been expanded to work with other loan products over time.

What integrations or reports does your tech solution allow for in terms of CDFI reporting, CDFI certification, or other data requirements?

Peña noted that since there is data available from each phase of the loan process, there is data available for reporting purposes from initial prospecting up through performance metrics for an outstanding loan portfolio. The platform includes many built-in reports and allows for exports such that data can be used for reports as needed. Peña noted that because of the breadth of data points stored, users can also create and track metrics that are informative for their strategy. For example, CDFIs can track the demographics between applicants and the portfolio overall. That platform can also collect metrics, such as how long it typically takes potential borrowers to complete portions of the application. These data points can lead to insights on how to potentially update the CDFI’s processes.

How has the CDFI industry changed in recent years and where do you think the industry is going, in terms of technology?

Peña highlighted a need for CDFIs to be agile and to aim to reduce barriers to their products. Many small business owners, for example, may gravitate to online lenders that have a higher cost of capital but are able to make loan decisions and disburse funds more quickly. Peña suggested that for the industry to continue to grow, it needs to get closer to the borrower to better understand their capital needs and be able to deliver funding quickly. He anticipates that technology can help CDFIs respond to customers’ needs and develop more exciting loan products, i.e. products with complexities that would be too challenging to track in Excel-based systems.

Peña also noted their initiative to create community-based templates to allow for better knowledge sharing across their platform’s users as an innovation.