In order to enter the Credit Review Process, a borrower must have formally applied for credit, been rejected and appealed that rejection through the banks internal appeals process.
However, anecdotal evidence suggests that in some cases sole traders, SME’s and farmers are requesting credit verbally at meetings with frontline bank staff, and receiving verbal refusals.
A verbal request and/or refusal is not part of any recognised lending process, is not counted as a decline of credit by the banks, and is not included in surveys by commentators such as Mazars.
A written request for credit must be submitted by the borrower.
The Credit Review Office has designed a generic bank lending request form which gives guidance on the type of information needed by banks to consider credit applications.
By submitting a written request on this simple form the borrower has provided the bank with the basic information to enter their formal lending process and receive a proper response.
The next step in this process is for the bank to arrange for the application to be made on their internal loan application system, which may require a meeting to gather any additional information needed to process the application.
This enters the borrower into the banks’ statistical reporting on lending performance which is closely monitored by the authorities. The borrower also becomes eligible for the protections offered by the Financial Regulator’s code of practice for lending to SMEs, and the services of the Credit Review Office.
Note: For Bank of Ireland and AIB SME loans you should use the facilities available on the banks respective websites,
