Application Solutions: Loan Files

The Control You Need, the Access You Want

LOAN FILES

Managing loan files from point of origin to secure destruction can be a challenge for financial organizations. Most loan-related documents are created early in the process, but additional “trailing” documents — such as a change of name, etc. — may be added during the life of the loan file. In addition, when loans are sold to other lending institutions, the files are then transferred to the new owner in electronic or hard-copy form, or both.

Loan files have unique customer access and response requirements that create the operational challenges below:

• Controlling authorizations. Loan documents are likely to exist in both paper and digital formats requiring strict access controls.
• Distributed and centralized access. Field employees and central management often require access to the same documents for audit and review. Inefficiencies in duplication, mailing and faxing increase costs and raise the risk of inadvertent disclosures and/or lost documents.
• Auditing and reporting. If master files are difficult to access, users invariably make unauthorized convenience or “phantom” copies, which compromise the integrity of the contract management process.
• Security and consistency. Securely managing large volumes of active records in a distributed environment is difficult to accomplish in a compliant manner.

Gain from our experience

Iron Mountain's loan file solutions provide a comprehensive approach to storing and accessing your records, with special expertise in managing hybrid records (both paper and digital). We leverage industry-leading technology, best practices and a rigorous chain of custody, minimizing document handoffs and multiparty involvement.

Iron Mountain centrally manages physical copies of your loan documents for improved security and accountability. Image copies are created as required, with distributed access granted to the appropriate users in a consistent, compliant and cost-effective manner. By outsourcing the management of your loan files to an organization that specializes in records and information management, you receive better service, reduced onsite document storage costs, and a more cost-effective overall solution for managing the entire lifecycle of loan files.

A key advantage of the Iron Mountain solution is our Intelligent Scanning approach, which allows us to image all of the documents, subsets of documents, or only those documents related to inquiries (Image On Demand™). This flexibility allows us to tailor the solution to your specific needs and budget.

FEATURES AT A GLANCE

• Quantifiable results. Improved efficiencies, easier collaboration, lower overhead and faster access to loan documents by your distributed workforce.
• Extensive geographic footprint. Support for distributed handling, centralized consolidation, or a combination of both, reducing transportation costs and risks.
• Reduced costs. Outsourced management of physical and digital documents relieves internal resources, facilities and capital investments.
• Multiple delivery options. Choose the formats that support your needs. Options include the return of hard-copy documents; faxing and/or imaging with delivery by secure email; secure FTP for ingestion into your document management system; and delivery to our own hosted Digital Record Center® for Images via Web-based access or through an API or Web Services integration.
• Blended solutions. We can craft a mixture of electronic active and inactive storage to minimize your costs while achieving your response and access targets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. M y loan files are generated across the country. Do we still have to ship them to a central location for Iron Mountain to handle?
A. Our footprint allows us to collect and service retrieval requests from locations convenient to you. We analyze your document generation and retrieval requirements and then propose the optimum mix of centralized versus decentralized handling.

Q. What are the best practices for handling trailing documents?
A. If your legal advisors require the retention of the hard copy, “dropping” the trailing documents into the file maintains the file integrity and allows for single-unit tracking and timely destruction in compliance with privacy requirements and internal records management policies.

Q. How can my staff access the files if they are not centralized?
A. If your access requirements justify imaging, your staff will have access to the scanned documents. If source documents are required, authorized users can place a retrieval request and have the original files delivered from their Iron Mountain storage location.

Q. How do you determine what to scan and when to scan it?
A. Iron Mountain helps you choose from a variety of options based on your retrieval requirements. For example, when immediate retrieval is required, such as when servicing client requests on the phone, all of the documents that may be needed should be scanned. When access is not needed as quickly, as in pre-established SLAs, Image On Demand can provide an extremely cost-effective approach. Based on your specific situation, we will recommend the best approach.

Q. What are my retrieval options?
A. Iron Mountain can deliver the original documents back to you or you can elect to receive imaged versions of the files. The scanned images can be delivered electronically (secure email or secure FTP) or on media (DVD or USB Drive).

Q. How will you organize the documents?
A. Iron Mountain will design the sorting and filing approach to meet your unique retrieval requirements.

Q. If I don't scan everything, what's the delay time in getting a supporting document?
A. Iron Mountain currently offers SLAs from 15 minutes to 48 hours, depending on the service requirements.

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Ab out Iron Mountain Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) provides information management services that help organizations lower the costs, risks and inefficiencies of managing their physical and digital data. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain manages billions of information assets, including backup and archival data, electronic records, document imaging, business records, secure shredding, and more, for organizations around the world. Visit the Company Web site at www.ironmountain.com for more information.