Credit assessment in leasing, rethought: real-time account data as the missing layer

Leasing companies today face a dual challenge: on the one hand, credit and default risks must be reliably contained, while on the other, sales teams and customers expect rapid decisions. At the same time, economic uncertainty, dynamic markets and young corporate structures are placing ever greater demands on underwriting.

The traditional credit assessment in leasing has for many years formed an important basis for this. Business credit agencies such as Creditreform provide valuable information about companies, their payment behaviour and economic development. This data remains an indispensable component of professional risk assessments.

Nevertheless, traditional credit reports are increasingly reaching their limits. Historical information alone is often insufficient to fully reflect a company's current economic situation. Particularly for young companies, rapidly growing businesses or economic borderline cases, decisions end up being made on the basis of incomplete data.

This is where account-based credit assessment comes in. It does not replace the traditional credit check but supplements it with current information from the business account – naturally only with the applicant's explicit consent. The result is a considerably more robust basis for decision-making, particularly for applications that cannot be clearly classified as either positive or negative in the traditional process.

Why traditional credit assessment in leasing is reaching its limits

Leasing companies must make decisions under uncertainty on a daily basis. This is not simply a matter of whether a company appears solvent today, but also whether it will be able to meet its obligations over the entire term of a leasing agreement.

Traditional business credit agencies provide important information for this purpose. Annual financial statements, register data, negative indicators and other credit information reflect a company's economic history and are therefore a central component of professional risk models.

The challenge is that historical information does not always reflect current economic reality.

Historical data naturally responds with a delay

Company figures are produced retrospectively. Considerable time can pass between an economic change and its full reflection in traditional data sources.

For companies with stable development, this is usually unproblematic. For rapidly growing or quickly changing businesses, however, this time lag can result in current economic performance being underestimated.

Young companies often have little credit history

Many leasing applications come from companies whose business development is still comparatively young. A limited data history does not automatically mean a higher default risk. Nevertheless, assessing the creditworthiness of such companies is often more difficult because less historical information is available.

In corporate client leasing in particular, this regularly leads to so-called borderline cases.

Not every rejection is actually a risk case

Between clearly good and clearly poor credit standings lies a broad spectrum of companies whose actual economic situation can only be assessed to a limited extent on the basis of traditional data alone. This is precisely where the greatest commercial potential for leasing companies lies.

What leasing companies really need today

Modern risk management requires more than historical company information. Current economic indicators are becoming increasingly important for well-founded decisions.

Particularly relevant, for example, are:

• current liquidity
• stability of incoming payments
• regular revenue development
• existing credit obligations
• returned direct debits
• ongoing tax and salary payments

This information answers a decisive question: How well is the company performing today?

While traditional credit reports primarily document the past, analysing current account movements provides a view of the present economic situation. In leasing underwriting in particular, this results in a considerably more complete basis for decision-making.

Account-based credit assessment: how the second look works

Account-based credit assessment supplements the traditional credit decision with current information from the business account. Access is granted exclusively with the company's explicit consent via regulated account information services under PSD2.

Instead of evaluating historical data alone, current payment flows can also be analysed. These include, for example:

• stability of revenues
• development of liquidity
• returned direct debits
• regular tax payments
• salary payments
• existing financing obligations
• recurring operating expenses

This information then feeds into an additional assessment – the so-called second look.

Concrete use cases in leasing underwriting

The greatest potential arises wherever traditional processes do not allow for a clear decision.

Assessing borderline cases with greater differentiation

A company may have a limited credit history but has generated stable revenues for months and has sufficient liquidity. The second look makes this distinction visible.

Higher approval rates without blanket relaxation

Instead of lowering all risk thresholds across the board, leasing companies can specifically re-examine those applications where additional information provides genuine added value. This makes the decision more precise – not more lenient.

Early warning system for existing customers

Account-based analyses can be used not only for new business. Existing leasing engagements can also be reviewed regularly, subject to appropriate consent, in order to identify changes at an early stage and manage risks more effectively.

Business case: what account-based assessment achieves in leasing

Combining traditional business credit reports with current account data pursues a clear objective: identifying more good applications without taking on unnecessary risk.

Typical benefits include:

• more well-founded decisions
• fewer false-negative decisions
• faster processing of borderline cases
• greater transparency in underwriting
• better collaboration between sales and risk

Account-based credit assessment does not aim to approve as many additional applications as possible. Rather, it aims to improve the quality of decisions and more reliably distinguish economically viable companies from genuine risk cases.

Compliance & data protection

The analysis of business accounts is subject to stringent regulatory requirements. Access is granted exclusively via regulated account information services in accordance with PSD2 requirements and always requires the applicant's explicit consent.

In addition, the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply. These include in particular:

• transparent consent
• purpose limitation of data processing
• data minimisation
• secure processing
• traceable documentation

For leasing companies, this means that account-based credit assessments can be integrated into existing compliance processes without altering established governance structures.

ConversionUp combines the traditional credit check with an account-based second assessment, creating an additional basis for decision-making for modern leasing processes. Existing business credit reports – for example from Creditreform as a long-standing partner – remain a central component of the risk assessment and are specifically supplemented with current economic information.

Conclusion: leasing creditworthiness belongs in the present

Traditional credit assessment will remain an indispensable component of professional leasing decisions in the future. At the same time, the demands on speed, precision and cost-effectiveness are continuously increasing.

Account-based credit assessment supplements existing processes precisely where historical data alone is insufficient. It provides current information on liquidity and payment behaviour and enables better-founded decisions, particularly in borderline cases.

For leasing companies, this does not represent a departure from tried-and-tested procedures but a sensible extension of existing underwriting processes.

Those who intelligently combine traditional business credit reports with current account data create the basis for better decisions, more efficient processes and a higher conversion rate – without compromising on risk management.

Further information

• Account-based credit assessment
• Digital account insight
• Reducing payment defaults in B2B leasing
• Lowering the rejection rate – without increasing risk