An RFP for a commercial real estate debt management system scores vendors on five things: how loan data gets in and how deep it goes, whether the calculation engine reproduces each lender’s tests and each loan’s prepayment conventions, how financial data flows in from accounting, what the platform delivers, and what the vendor commits to for security, onboarding and support. Feature checklists miss all five, because every vendor checks every box. The criteria below are written to be answered with evidence on your own loans.
We are LoanBoss and we answer RFPs like this one. We have written it to be fair to the category, and we have marked where our answers would differ from others.
Section 1: Data capture
| Criterion | What to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Abstraction | Who abstracts each loan, to how many fields, with what QA? | If your team enters the data, the depth is whatever your analyst has time for. LoanBoss: in-house team, 400+ fields, two rounds of QA. |
| Amendments | How are modifications and extensions processed? | Every loan is amended. The process should be “send the document.” |
| Provisions | Show where these live as data: lender NOI adjustments, hypothetical amortization, prepayment convention with lookback, replacement cap requirement, recourse burndown, cash management trigger, partial release formula, supplemental test. | These provisions generate the work. If they are in free-text notes, they are not automated. |
| Sample | Provide a completed abstract for a loan of ours. | The only way to see depth. |
Section 2: Calculation engine
| Criterion | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Lender tests | Run our lender’s DSCR and debt yield test with every adjustment, on our financials, and reconcile to the lender’s last calculation. |
| Amortization | Model agency floater monthly re-amortization, step-ups and step-downs, partial IO, custom draws and paydowns. |
| Prepayment | Quote yield maintenance, defeasance, spread maintenance, make-whole and swap breakage for a date six months out, with the rate lookback the documents specify. |
| Hedges | Value a cap and a swap with live rates; show the loan’s hedge requirement and today’s replacement cost. |
| Scenarios | Project portfolio cash flows under rate and hold/sell assumptions. |
Section 3: Financial data
| Criterion | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Integration | API integration with our accounting system (Yardi, MRI, RealPage), or file upload? On what schedule? |
| Mapping | Who maps the chart of accounts to each loan’s definitions? |
| Overrides | Can we override an input with an audit trail? |
| Reconciliation | How are balance differences between the platform, the GL and the servicer surfaced? |
Section 4: Deliverables
| Criterion | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Existing reports | Will you rebuild the reports we already use, so they refresh automatically? Show one. |
| Lender packages | Compliance certificates, SREOs on lender templates, debt summaries. |
| Critical dates | Alerts for maturities, extensions, replacement caps, IO expiry, repair deadlines, forced funding, prepay step-downs. |
| Export | Can every report and dataset be exported without vendor involvement? |
Section 5: Vendor commitments
| Criterion | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Security | Annual SOC 2 Type II report, encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access, audit logs, DR/BCP. |
| Onboarding | Timeline, who does the work, dedicated manager, progress visibility. LoanBoss: 92% within six weeks. |
| Support | Response-time commitment in writing, team background, escalation. LoanBoss: two hours. |
| Pricing | Basis (portfolio, per loan, per property, engagement), what changes at renewal, what is extra. |
| Exit | Data export at termination, format, timing. |
The demo script that replaces the written response
Send each finalist three loans a week before the demo: your most complex floater (cap requirement, extension options, future funding), your most complex fixed-rate loan (yield maintenance or defeasance with a lookback, a lender-specific DSCR test), and one loan with a recent amendment. Ask them to arrive with the loans abstracted.
In the demo, in this order:
- Open the floater. Show the cap requirement as fields, the replacement deadline, and today’s replacement cost. Show last month’s re-amortized payment and reconcile it to the servicer statement you provided.
- Run the extension test on the financials you provided, on the lender’s definition. Show the notice window as dates.
- Open the fixed-rate loan. Quote the prepayment cost for a date you name, now, and explain the reference rate and lookback used.
- Run the lender’s DSCR test with every adjustment and reconcile to the lender’s last calculation, which you provided.
- Open the amended loan. Show which fields changed and what the platform did with them.
- Ask for the SREO on your agency’s template and the debt summary in your board’s format. Do not accept a standard report.
- Ask what your team would have done to make any of the above happen.
Score each step on evidence. A vendor that arrives without the loans abstracted has told you what onboarding will be like.
Common RFP mistakes
- Sending it to lender-side vendors. Different workflow; wasted responses.
- Weighting the interface. The interface matters less than the abstraction depth and the engine.
- Skipping references at your size. Enterprise references do not predict a 40-loan experience.
- Not asking about renewal. Year-two pricing and scope changes belong in the response.
- Not defining done. If the RFP does not say what live means, every vendor will meet it.
Scoring
Weight sections 1 and 2 at 50% together. They determine whether the number is right. Section 3 at 20%: it determines whether the number stays right. Sections 4 and 5 at 15% each. Score every item on evidence produced in the demo on your loans, not on the written response. A vendor that declines to run your hardest loan has answered the question.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many vendors should we include?
Three to five. This category is small enough to cover: the accounting-native option for your system, one or two debt engines, and one advisory-plus-software option if you have a large hedge book.
Should the RFP go to lender-side platforms?
Only if you are a lender. Platforms built for banks and servicers point the workflow the other way. See covenant compliance software compared.
How long should the process take?
Four to eight weeks from RFP issue to selection, including demos on your loans and reference calls.
What is the most common mistake?
Scoring the written response. Every vendor writes “yes.” The demo on your own loans is the RFP.
How should the five sections be weighted?
Sections 1 and 2 together at 50%, because they determine whether the number is right. Section 3 at 20%, because it determines whether the number stays right, and sections 4 and 5 at 15% each. Score every item on evidence produced in the demo on your loans.
Key takeaways
- Score five things: data capture and depth, the calculation engine, the financial data feed, the deliverables, and vendor commitments on security, onboarding, support, pricing and exit.
- Weight data capture and the engine at half the total; they determine whether the number is right.
- Every criterion should be answered with evidence produced on your own loans in the demo, not with a written response.
- Send three loans a week ahead and run a fixed demo script; a vendor that arrives without them abstracted has shown you onboarding.
- Exclude lender-side platforms unless you are a lender.
- Define “live” in the RFP, ask about renewal pricing, and get references at your portfolio size.
Related reading
- Vendor risk assessment for CRE debt software
- Cost and ROI: debt software vs hiring analysts
- Implementation timelines and what onboarding should include
- Spreadsheets to platform without disruption
- Best CRE debt management software 2026
This guide reflects publicly available information as of September 2026. If you are a vendor and believe we have misrepresented the category, contact us and we will correct it.
Sources
- Public RFP and vendor selection guidance from the Mortgage Bankers Association and NAIOP (accessed September 2026)
- Public product documentation from Yardi, Chatham Financial, JLL, Pereview, MRI Software and TreasuryView
- LoanBoss onboarding guide, sample loan abstract and sample DSCR test, loanboss.com
- AICPA, SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria