Desk note
Preparing a sample for an independent file review
· Daniel Tan
The slowest part of a BNPL file review is rarely the reading. It is waiting for a sample that can be read. Programmes that export ‘current’ screens lose the version the customer saw. Programmes that send only approved accounts hide the decisioning. Programmes that strip merchant identifiers hide the channel.
Before we agree a start date, we ask for a sampling frame: product, channel, merchant group if relevant, approved/declined/withdrawn, and the origination window. We then ask for the policy pack, scripts, and customer-facing materials that were live in that window, with dates. Files without those companions can be completeness-checked. They cannot be policy-checked.
Do not ‘tidy’ files before sending them. Reconstructed notes, back-filled income, and late attachments are visible to a reader, and they change the finding. If a file was incomplete on origination day, that is the fact we need.
Access is usually a secure workspace or an on-site read of your system. We do not ask for live production passwords to be emailed, and we do not take original customer documents out of your control. Copies used for the review are listed in the engagement letter and destroyed or returned on the timetable in that letter.
If you are unsure what to pull, start with fifty files across two channels and one product variant, plus the policy pack. That is enough to see whether a fuller sample is worth doing.