Problem loan management with one current page per troubled loan — the committee decides, the agents keep the file
Committee packs built from the file, not rebuilt from email.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that keeps the bank’s watch list — the loans graded special mention, substandard or doubtful — current between committee meetings, and turns it into the decisions the committee takes: upgrades, downgrades, non-accrual and transfers to Special Assets. Problem Loan Management keeps one current page per troubled loan and builds the committee pack from the file.
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Once a month the watch list committee — the Chief Credit Officer, the Chief Risk Officer, the Chief Lending Officer and the CFO — goes through every criticized name and decides who moves up, who moves down, who goes on non-accrual and who goes to Special Assets. The portfolio manager who prepares that meeting rebuilds each name’s story by hand: she emails the relationship managers for updates, re-keys spreads and covenant results into slides, and copies last month’s action plan forward.
What changed in between is the part most likely to be missed. A loan on an interest-only modification stays current while its coverage on the original schedule falls below 1.0x. A plant appraised more than four years ago still props up the collateral line. The OCC warns that restructurings and paid-in-kind mechanisms “may mask underlying credit deterioration” — and a slide deck built from email is where that happens.
Estimated split for a 41-name watch list: about four days by hand, against the target of one morning with the agents.
Six specialist agents keep each troubled loan's page current from the file; the watch list committee decides and the Chief Credit Officer signs.
Calder Plains Bank meets on Thursday 15 October. Brenmar Plastics, a packaging maker in Grand Island, Nebraska, is item 1. Here is the week, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Priya opens a binder of 17 pages, one per loan on Thursday’s agenda, with 27 more names on the consent list. Brenmar’s page reads like the paper a committee member holds: grade 6 special mention, 7 proposed, $16.81M outstanding — and the story in five lines, each with its source in the margin, one click from the document.
“Trailing EBITDA $3.12M, a year ago $4.86M. Fixed-charge coverage 0.94x on the original schedule against a 1.20x covenant; payments are current only because of June’s interest-only modification.”
Sandhills Valuation Partners delivers the Grand Island plant appraisal: 64 pages, as-is market value $7,080,000, effective 5 Oct. The monitor reads it, matches it to the first mortgage that secures the term loan — last valued at $9,500,000 in March 2022 — and recomputes coverage. The grade recommender re-tests Brenmar.
“Term loan 1.10x → 0.82x · whole relationship 1.10x → 0.96x · 1.14x with the guarantee.”
Line 5 turns red: the new value is down 25%, and the $8.64M term loan is covered 0.82x, a $1.56M shortfall. The collateral table follows, the margin note reads “Plant appraisal · today 08:14”, and the rail records what the document changed. Nobody rebuilt a slide.
“Line 5 and the collateral table rewritten · term loan 1.10x → 0.82x.”
One click marks the page like a redline against the version the committee read on 17 September: the old sentence struck through, today’s underlined. Four of five lines, three collateral values and one plan item have changed. The chair reads what is new, not what he read last month.
“Tell me what changed since last month, not what I read last month.”
Behind the page is Brenmar’s full file: ten changes since the last review, each with its source. The grade recommender proposes a downgrade to 7 substandard, staying on accrual, and lists why — inadequate debt service coverage, inadequate liquidity, current only because of the modification, sponsor support weaker, a collateral shortfall — with the allowance effect and the Special Assets rule.
The recommender proposes. It never sets a grade — the committee does.
Since July the term loan pays interest only; $110,000 a month of principal is deferred to December. Cash available for debt service is $2,990,000: it covers the interest-only schedule 1.61x, but the contractual one only 0.94x. The covenant table shows fixed-charge coverage and senior funded debt to EBITDA in breach, tested on the original terms.
A modification is never shown as a cure: coverage is always recomputed on the original schedule.
The plan the committee set on 17 Sep, item by item: sponsor equity of $1.5M overdue, the borrowing base certificate open, one of two replacement contracts signed. Evan answers one update form instead of six emails — Pinecrest Pet Nutrition signed a three-year supply agreement, about $4.2M a year from February 2027 — and four new actions are proposed for Thursday.
“I’d rather send one update than answer six emails.”
Priya presses Build the committee pack. Six agents gather 214 items on 41 names, spread 19 statements and 23 certificates, check payments, overdrafts and lines, recompute every modified loan on its original terms and test the facts against the 1–9 scale: 8 decisions, every reason cited. Out come 17 one-page summaries, a consent list of 27 and an 86-minute agenda — 44 pages.
Daniel Okafor chairs; Helen Marsh, Victor Ames and Grace Whitfield vote, with Theresa Quon and Rosa Delgado attending. Brenmar is downgraded 6 → 7, accruing, Special Assets co-manages, 4–0. The minutes are drafted as Priya records each decision, then sent to Daniel to sign.
The pack writer drafts minutes from the recorded decisions only.
Each decision and the actions it set land on the name’s page and in one log: 14 open actions across the watch list, 6 overdue. The agents check each against the file and remind the relationship manager each morning, so the next committee starts from what actually happened.
The same troubled loan, seen by the five people who carry it — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents keep each troubled loan's page current from the file; the watch list committee decides and the Chief Credit Officer signs.
Reads every new item for each watch list name — statements, compliance and borrowing base certificates, payments, overdrafts, line use, valuations and relationship manager updates — and logs it as a change since the last review, with its source.
Spreads each income statement, balance sheet and cash flow into the bank’s template, computes trailing twelve months, and recomputes every financial covenant exactly as the loan agreement defines it.
Watches past dues, overdrafts, line utilisation, borrowing base availability and deposit trends against the change triggers in Settings.
Finds every amendment, extension, deferral, rate concession, interest-only period or payment-in-kind feature in the last 24 months, and computes debt service and coverage on the original schedule and on the modified one.
Tests the facts against the bank’s 1–9 rating scale and the regulatory definitions, and proposes upgrade, downgrade, non-accrual, exit or transfer to Special Assets — with each reason, the allowance effect and new action items.
Orders the agenda by decision weight and exposure, writes one page per discussion name, puts names with no material change on the consent list, and after the meeting drafts the minutes and the action log.
Votes every grade change; the CCO signs the minutes. The agents propose; a named person decides.
The portfolio manager can ask in plain words — or tell it what to add for Thursday. Every answer points back to the file.
What changed on Brenmar’s page since the committee last read it?
Ten changes since 17 Sep — eight adverse, one hidden, one good. Four of the five lines on the page are new: today the plant appraised at $7.08M, term loan coverage 1.10x → 0.82x; coverage 0.94x on the original schedule against a 1.20x covenant; revolver 96% drawn, $210,000 available; current only because of the June interest-only modification; sponsor equity of $1.5M missed, $750,000 offered by 15 Nov; and the Pinecrest contract, about $4.2M a year from February 2027.
Is Brenmar current only because of the June modification?
Yes. Since July the term loan pays interest only — $110,000 a month of principal is deferred to December. Brenmar’s cash for debt service covers the modified schedule 1.61x, but the original one only 0.94x. In Q3 it paid $465,000 against $795,000 due before the change.
Which names move to substandard or non-accrual on Thursday?
Two, and one transfer: Brenmar Plastics 6 → 7, accruing ($16.81M); Tamarack Senior Living to non-accrual, 90 days past due on 8 Oct ($11.35M); Coulter Ridge Office Partners to Special Assets ($18.75M). If all pass, classified rises to $181.6M, 24.2% of Tier 1 capital plus allowance, and non-accrual to $71.9M. The allowance rises by about $1.7M, $353,000 of it on Brenmar.
Add a condition: $750,000 sponsor equity by 15 November, or transfer to Special Assets
Added to Brenmar’s proposal for Thursday. It matches Ridgeway’s own offer of 29 Sep, and the policy lets the committee transfer a substandard name at any time. Evan Lindqvist owns it; I will check for the wire on 16 Nov.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The rules the agents watch every name against are settings — your scale, your triggers, your committee.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Rating scale | Calder Plains 1–9 scale (2024) | Calder Plains 1–9 scale (2024) · Regulatory four-grade view |
| Special mention reviewed by the committee | Every quarter | Every quarter · every month · every two months |
| Substandard and non-accrual reviewed | Every month | Every month · every quarter |
| Fixed-charge coverage below (on the original schedule) | 1.00x | Set up or down in steps |
| Line of credit drawn above | 90% | 85 · 90 · 95% |
| Overdrafts | 2 in 30 days | 1 · 2 · 3 in 30 days |
| Statements late by | 30 days | 15 · 30 · 45 days |
| Collateral value down | 15% | 10 · 15 · 20% |
| Pack ready | 2 business days before | 1 · 2 · 3 business days before |
| Special Assets co-manages substandard above | $10,000,000 | $5M · $10M · $15M |
| Transfer any non-accrual to Special Assets above | $5,000,000 | $2.5M · $5M · $7.5M, or by committee vote |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample bank data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate, from the portfolio manager’s own count · “typical” = published figures (FDIC, Federal Reserve and OCC, 2025 Shared National Credit review: $592.9B, 8.6% of $6.9T special mention or classified; non-accrual commitments +30.4%) · the quoted warning is from the OCC Semiannual Risk Perspective, Spring 2026. People, banks and companies named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that keeps the bank’s watch list — the loans graded special mention, substandard or doubtful — current between committee meetings, and turns it into the decisions the committee takes: upgrades, downgrades, non-accrual and transfers to Special Assets. Problem Loan Management keeps one current page per troubled loan and builds the committee pack from the file.
The watch list monitor reads each new statement, certificate, payment, overdraft, valuation and RM update as it arrives and rewrites the line it changes, with the source in the margin. Every version of the page is kept, so the committee can see exactly what moved since it last read it.
Yes. The modification screen finds every amendment, deferral, extension, interest-only period or PIK feature in the last 24 months and recomputes coverage on the original schedule. If a loan is current only because of the modification, the page and the pack say so.
No. The grade recommender proposes a grade, the accrual status and any transfer, with each reason cited and the allowance effect. The committee votes every change, and the Chief Credit Officer signs the minutes. The agents never contact a borrower.
One button. Six agents gather everything since the last committee, re-test covenants and modifications, draft a proposal for each discussion name, and write one page per name, the consent list and the agenda. In the working solution that took 1 minute 46 seconds for 41 names.
Yes. The rating scale, review frequency, what counts as a change (coverage, line use, overdrafts, late statements, modifications, collateral value), when the pack is ready, quorum and the Special Assets thresholds are all settings, versioned and on the audit trail.
Your loan and deposit systems for payments, past dues, overdrafts and line use; the credit file for statements, certificates, appraisals, amendments and sponsor letters; the RM update form; the watch list and grade history; and your credit policy and rating scale.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your credit policy, rating scale, committee charter and a sample of watch list files — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own watch list names first.
We’ll run Problem Loan Management on a sample of your own watch list names.