# Phase 5 — Support the loan after funding

## The relationship does not end when money is released

An accepted offer and a funding commitment are important milestones, but they are not the end of the borrower’s experience. A useful lending application must remain understandable through months of scheduled payments, questions, changes and difficult outcomes.

This phase turns the marketplace into a servicing story. The borrower needs to know what is due, what has been received and what to do when circumstances change. The funding partner needs a reliable view of exposure and receipts. Operations needs the tools and authority to investigate, agree changes and close a case without rewriting history.

All examples remain synthetic. Calculation rules, calendars, fees and real-money obligations must be agreed before a production implementation.

## Three views of the same loan

The borrower sees a simple position: original amount, scheduled payments, confirmed receipts, amount outstanding and the next action. They should not have to understand accounting journals to know whether a payment was received.

The funding partner sees a portfolio position: confirmed deployment, receipts, outstanding exposure, arrears and agreed changes. Forecasts and confirmed money must remain separate.

Operations sees the detailed case: schedule version, payment events, failed or unknown attempts, contact history, support decisions, approvals and evidence. A colleague should be able to take over without reconstructing the story from emails.

## Expected is not received

The repayment schedule describes an expectation. It is not a ledger of money that has arrived.

| Concept | Meaning | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scheduled instalment | An amount due under the current agreement. | £450 due on 1 March. |
| Payment instruction | A request prepared or sent to collect money. | Direct debit attempt 001. |
| Confirmed receipt | Authoritative evidence that money arrived. | Provider confirms £450 received. |
| Outstanding balance | A calculated position as of a stated time. | Principal less confirmed allocations. |
| Arrears | An amount past its defined due date and not covered by an allowed arrangement. | £450 overdue after the grace period. |

The system must state the “as at” time and the calculation definition for a position. A number without those details is difficult to trust or explain.

## Schedule versions and changes

A schedule can change after an approved payment plan, hardship arrangement, correction or settlement. We should never quietly rewrite the old schedule. A new version records:

- the effective date;
- the reason and policy reference;
- the person who prepared it;
- the person who approved it when required;
- the previous schedule version;
- the amounts and dates affected;
- the borrower communication that was issued.

Past receipts remain attached to the schedule version and agreement that governed them. This makes a later statement explainable: the application can show both what was originally expected and what was changed.

## A repayment timeline

Consider a fictional twelve-month loan. The first instalment is confirmed. The second payment times out, so it is Unknown. The third instalment is missed.

The borrower should see the confirmed first receipt, a clear investigation message for the second and a next action for the third. The funding partner should see one confirmed receipt, one unresolved payment and one overdue expectation. Operations should have three linked tasks with different owners and urgency.

The application must not count the Unknown payment as received merely because a collection request was sent. It must not count the missed instalment as a loss until the applicable policy and review process says so.

## Arrears and support

Arrears are a policy result, not just a red number. The calculation needs an agreed due-date calendar, grace period, treatment of partial receipts, approved payment plans and time-zone rules.

When someone asks for help, the support case should connect to the loan without granting support staff permission to change a balance. A servicing specialist may propose an arrangement; an authorized approver may need to approve it; a finance operator may need to confirm the resulting financial entries.

The borrower should receive a human explanation of the next step. Internal notes, risk assessments and restricted documents should remain outside the customer view.

## Settlement and closure

An early-settlement quote is calculated for a stated date and expires. It is not the same thing as a payment received. Closure follows the authoritative financial outcome and any required approval.

These outcomes remain distinct:

- the borrower paid an instalment;
- the full balance was confirmed as received;
- the account was closed after settlement;
- an amount was written off under policy;
- a debt was released or otherwise resolved.

The interface should use the correct term because each outcome has different evidence and reporting implications.

## Designing the ASP.NET application boundary

The API should expose task-oriented operations such as “request a payment plan”, “approve schedule version 3” and “calculate settlement quote as at 1 June”. A generic endpoint that accepts arbitrary balance edits would make the rules difficult to protect.

Application handlers coordinate identity, resource access, policy and persistence. Domain objects enforce transitions. SQL transactions preserve the local change and its outbox event. Queries return separate borrower, partner and operations projections instead of one overpowered response.

The calculation service should accept a clock and calendar policy so tests can prove due dates, leap years, rounding and effective dates. It should not depend on the current machine time hidden inside a static helper.

## Evidence for completion

This phase is complete only when tests and demonstrations show that:

- the schedule and confirmed receipts are visibly different;
- an Unknown payment does not silently reduce the balance;
- arrears use documented due-date and grace-period rules;
- schedule changes create versions and retain the prior history;
- support staff cannot change a balance without the required authority;
- settlement quotes are dated and expire predictably;
- paid closure, write-off and debt release remain separate;
- borrower and funding-partner projections reveal only their permitted information.

## Guided practice

Design the screens and state changes for the fictional timeline with one confirmed payment, one Unknown payment and one missed instalment. Write the borrower message, partner portfolio line and operations tasks. Then explain the evidence required before the loan can be closed.

The strongest answer makes uncertainty visible, keeps the schedule versioned and gives every person a useful next action.