Origination

This page will give you everything you need to originate a loan with Onbo's APIs.

API Calls and the UX

Loan applications are subject to regulations to protect borrowers, so it's important that your API calls are made at the right time with respect to your application UX events. The diagram below summarizes the primary API calls and when they need to be made during the user journey.

1. Create a user

The first step is to create a user with the information you've collected during your onboarding/KYC. The /users POST call should be made before you present the loan application terms to the borrower. The call will return the user's uuid. This id will be needed for subsequent calls, so it should be persisted and associated with the applicant.

See the Creating and managing users guide for more information about creating users.

2. Create the Loan application

Once the borrower has consented to the loan application terms, create the loan application using the /applications POST method.

Creating a loan application may not be done until you've received explicit consent from the applicant.

Every application will result in one of two outcomes:

  • The application is approved: inform Onbo that the applicant was approved by passing the decision and offers parameters in your /applications POST call. Persist the offer_uuid included in the response

  • The application is rejected: inform Onbo that the applicant was rejected by passing the decision and rejection_reasons parameters in your /applications POST call. When an applicant is rejected, you must present the reasons for rejection and send the Adverse Action Notice email. For more information, see the Rejecting Applications page

If using your own decisioning engine, every application (both approved and rejected applicants) must be shared with Onbo. The Adverse Action Notice must be sent to rejected candidates.

3. Present the loan offer and promissory note

In order for a loan offer to be accepted, the applicant must explicitly do the following two things:

  1. Accept the loan offer terms. The same offer terms submitted with the application must be shown

  2. Sign the credit agreement (aka promissory note). Use Onbo's /promissory_note GET endpoint to retrieve the promissory note pdf, which includes the Truth in Lending Act disclosures

Note that the promissory note expires after 24 hours. You can get a new promissory note at anytime.

The borrower must explicitly agree to the offer terms and sign the credit agreement (aka promissory note) in order for a loan to be accepted

4. Accept and activate the loan

Once an applicant has accepted the loan terms and signed the promissory note, use the /loans PATCH endpoint to set the status to ACTIVE. To do this, you'll need to pass the document_id of the promissory note.

You should also instruct Onbo where to disburse the loan proceeds to by using the disbursement_bank_info parameter.

The offer uuid will become the loan uuid once the loan status is set to active

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