Loan boarding, also called loan onboarding or loan set-up, is the transfer of a loan's details into the system that will administer it for the rest of its life. It takes place after credit origination and closing, or when loan servicing is taken over from another firm. Staff or automated feeds enter the borrower's details, principal, interest rate and basis, payment dates, maturity, fees, escrow items, collateral and covenants, and attach the signed documents.
Accuracy at this stage matters because every later calculation depends on it. Good practice therefore includes a second-person check of key fields against the loan contract, reconciliation of balances to the funding records, and confirmation that the amortisation schedule generated by the system matches the agreed one. When a portfolio moves between servicers, data is mapped and tested in advance, and borrowers are notified.