1 in 3 Lenders Still Take 3+ Days to Approve a Loan – Despite Rising Borrower Expectations

written by the Vahuri Voolaid on the 5th of November 2025

Speed has become the new standard of trust.

Borrowers no longer measure responsiveness in days – they expect decisions in hours. 

Yet new research shows that a third of lenders still take three days or more to issue a loan decision, even as borrower expectations continue to accelerate.

To understand why, LendFusion analyzed data from 180 specialist lenders across North America, Europe and the UK. 

The findings, published in The Lending Operations Benchmark Report 2026, reveal a sector in transition – aware of the need for speed, but constrained by legacy systems, manual workflows, and fragmented automation.

This report is a snapshot of how real lenders are adapting – and where some fall short.

What You’ll Learn

The report highlights what’s driving the speed gap and how lenders are closing it:

• Why 68% of lenders believe borrowers expect same-day decisions – but only half can deliver
• The three biggest bottlenecks slowing down loan approvals
• Where automation is working (and where it’s still missing)
• How lenders are prioritizing speed ahead of compliance and cost reduction for 2026

What the Data Reveals

Across the industry, speed has overtaken compliance as the top operational priority.

• 68% of lenders say borrowers now expect same-day loan decisions
  
• 1 in 3 still take 3+ days to provide an answer
  
• 62% cite compliance checks as their main cause of delay
  
• 46% struggle with manual data entry or fragmented workflows
  
• 72% named faster decisioning as their #1 goal for 2026

The data paints a clear picture: lenders know what needs to change – but execution is still catching up to ambition.

“Speed is the baseline for credibility in lending,” said Andres Valdmann, CEO of LendFusion. “If lenders can’t make fast, data-driven decisions, they’ll lose trust.”

What Top-Performing Lenders Do Differently

After analyzing the data, four success patterns stood out among lenders already delivering faster, more consistent results:

1. Unified Data Architecture

Specialist lenders consolidate borrower, credit, and compliance data in one place – eliminating re-entry delays and duplication errors.

2. Embedded Compliance

Top lenders integrate KYC and AML checks directly into automated workflows, turning compliance from a bottleneck into a built-in safeguard.

3. Dynamic Decisioning

Adaptive models replace static rule sets, allowing real-time risk evaluation and faster approvals without compromising accuracy.

4. Cross-Functional Orchestration

Sustainable speed depends on alignment – not just automation.

The most successful lenders treat lending operations as a shared discipline across technology, risk, and compliance. By coordinating these functions within a single framework, they eliminate the handoffs that slow decisioning down.

In these organizations, technology is not a department – it’s an enabler of operational unity.

The Industry’s Next Phase: From Awareness to Execution

The takeaway from The Lending Operations Benchmark Report 2026 is clear:

Lenders don’t need more tools – they need connected architecture.

Speed now defines competitiveness, but the leaders of 2026 won’t measure it by turnaround time alone. They’ll design for it – embedding responsiveness, compliance, and collaboration into every part of their operating model.

The next wave of progress in lending won’t come from faster systems, but from systems that work together. When systems become strategy.

Download the full report to see how lenders are building faster, more integrated operations – and where your organization stands in comparison.

Vahuri Voolaid, COO

Vahuri is the Chief Operations Officer at LendFusion. Vahuri has 9 years of experience in fintech with loan management software as a product owner and an MBA with a specialisation in IT management.

Connect with Vahuri on LinkedIn.