Bernard Worthy’s Post

Picking the wrong AI underwriting partner costs CDFIs months, contract fees, and lost borrowers. Here are our Do's and Don'ts for getting it right the first time: 🟢 DO hand the vendor your credit policy before the first demo. Many small CDFIs lack the technology to underwrite loans, manage operations, and conduct outreach efficiently. The onboarding hours are where that pain compounds. 🔴 DON'T trust the polished demo file. They built it to make their AI look good. Your portfolio doesn't look like that. 🟢 DO run the AI against deals you already declined. The disagreements teach you more than the matches. 🔴 DON'T pilot on net-new applications first. Calibrate the model against deals you already underwrote, where you can compare its disagreements to the calls you already made. 🟢 DO keep your loan officers in the override loop from day one. Logging every override is the compliance architecture itself. 🔴 DON'T stop reviewing the file when the AI says it's confident. That's when the loan officer's instincts matter most. 🟢 DO ask the vendor whose credit policy the AI is following. 🔴 DON'T accept "ours" as the answer. They don't have your credit box, and the AI knows it. What's the part of your credit policy that no off-the-shelf model would catch on its own?