The True Cost of Spreadsheet-Based Underwriting

Spreadsheet-based underwriting isn't just slow. It's expensive, and the cost compounds across every deal in your portfolio.

Most capital teams don't calculate it. They feel the friction (rework, missed deadlines, inconsistent decisions) but don't quantify it. We've done the math.

The Time Tax

A typical loan underwriting process involves:

• **Evidence gathering** - Finance team chases documents across email and drive folders. Average 6-8 back-and-forths per loan.
• **Data entry and reconciliation** - Evidence goes into credit decisions, stress testing workbooks, policy breach reports. Each one a separate spreadsheet template.
• **Cross-checking and rework** - Finance managers spot inconsistencies. Data gets re-entered. Stress tests get re-run.
• **Output packs** - Credit decision gets compiled into term sheet and policy document. Manual cut-and-paste.

On a typical £5m commercial loan, this takes 40-60 hours across 2-3 team members.

At loaded cost (£50k salary = £100/hour fully burdened), that's £4,000-£6,000 in labour per loan.

Process 10 loans a month. You're spending £40,000-£60,000 in pure admin every month.

Over a year, that's £500k-£700k in labour cost just to push paper around.

The Risk Tax

But pure time cost undersells the real problem.

When underwriting lives in spreadsheets:

• **Evidence gets missed** - Documents live in folders. Someone forgets to check the energy performance cert or recent accountants' sign-off. Gaps only surface after credit decision.
• **Inconsistent decisions** - Different underwriters apply policies differently. One flags a 1.2x DSCR as breach. Another approves it as acceptable.
• **Rework after approval** - Borrower requests change terms. You need to re-stress test £1.5m of cells manually. Takes days.
• **Audit trails are spotty** - Who changed the interest rate assumption? When? Why? Good luck finding that in a 50-sheet workbook edited by 4 people.

Any one of these costs you a deal. Or costs you money that should be in the deal but got eaten by risk mispricing.

What's Achievable Instead

Better underwriting workflows do this:

1. **Evidence in one place** - All documents linked to the loan record. No searching folders. Easy to see what's missing.
2. **Consistent frameworks** - Policy rules applied the same way every time. Exceptions logged and tracked.
3. **Integrated stress testing** - Change one assumption (rate, timeline, cost) and everything recalculates. Takes minutes, not days.
4. **Clear audit trail** - Every change logged with who, when, and why. Easy to explain decisions to regulators or investors.
5. **Outputs in seconds** - Credit decision, term sheet and policy compliance report generate from the same data. No copy-paste errors.

Teams using structured underwriting platforms see 30-40% reduction in decision time and 20% reduction in post-approval rework.

The Opportunity Cost

There's a harder thing to measure but worth naming: opportunities missed because your team is drowning in admin instead of focused on origination, relationship management, or portfolio strategy.

If you've got 3 people on underwriting spending 60% of time on data entry and 40% on actual credit judgment, you're not originating as much as you should be. You're not building relationships. You're not thinking strategically about portfolio risk.

Structure the plumbing. Free your team to think.

That's what Domus does for capital teams.