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A Web App for Online Loan Taking

Deutsche Building is a banking company from Germany that needed our support to build a web application for taking loans by students.

TIMELINE: MARCH 2021 - PRESENT
COUNTRY: GERMANY

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About

Deutsche Bildung already had a form for loan-taking, but it was unintuitive, so it didn’t attract many people. It was challenging to fill out, and there were a few steps when students might have dropped out of the conversion funnel.

The main goals of the client were to increase the number of loans taken online and help the students to succeed when starting their careers.

Did you know?

Until the end of 2022, we worked in close cooperation with Distology Studios, and since 2023 we’re solely responsible for the project.

A Web App for Online Loan Taking & elearning

Our Role and Involvement

The web app we were to build was to allow students to request a loan easily and sign up for the contract online. The new, custom form was to be user-friendly, straightforward to fill out and mobile-ready to increase the conversion rate.

The students should also be able to manage their loans when they are assigned. Recipients should be able to check how much is left to be paid off and manage the finance and payments.

In order to help the students start their careers and succeed as professionals, Deutsche Bildung wanted to build an educational portal with helpful tips and courses.

As that was a financial application, we had to make it ultra-secure and GDPR-compliant, but at the same time, easy to log in.

We started the cooperation with Deutsche Bildung as a Distology Studios development partner but took over the project in January 2023. This was possible because we proved our trustworthiness, skills and transparency during the previous cooperation.

Client's goals

The students should also be able to manage their loans when they are assigned. Recipients should be able to check how much is left to be paid off and manage the finance and payments.

In order to help the students start their careers and succeed as professionals, Deutsche Bildung wanted to build an educational portal with helpful tips and courses.

As that was a financial application, we had to make it ultra-secure and GDPR-compliant, but at the same time, easy to log in.

The process

Discovery

Our involvement in the project grew over time. We had a previous relationship with Distology Studios which asked us for support with building this application. We started by creating a validated form and were soon engaged in the whole project.

Design

An external agency made the design, and as UX was crucial for students to fill the form successfully, we needed to adjust it to our needs to make everything more intuitive.

Development

After the design was ready, we assigned two developers to the project. We built a front-end solution with no database or log-in. It took less than one and a half months.

After providing the form, we started to build additional features. There was a tight deadline, as the client was switching off old systems, so the new one had to work correctly.

As the time passed, the project manager role emerged from our side, and we took responsibility for communication with Deutsche Bildung.

Since January 2023, we’ve taken the project from Distology Studios entirely and are now solely responsible for it.

Results - solution with measurable effects

System of forms

We created a complicated system of forms that was visually appealing and mobile-friendly. We implemented Yup for efficient data validation and preventing loss while simplifying the process for users.

Notification logic

We added notifications to remind students to complete partially filled forms, and integrated Customer.io for more control over email customization and campaign configuration.

ID verification

To ensure proper ID verification, we chose IDnow as a reliable solution. Users download their app and meet with a consultant who confirms whether their identity matches the shown ID before signing the contract.

Counselling

After receiving a loan, students gain access to the career counselling portal, where they can find supportive articles, images and videos.

Signing online

To enable online agreement signing, we integrated the system with a solution that supports editable document formats, allowing for changes in content and automatic conversion to PDF after both parties sign.

Infrastructure

We chose AWS for our platform as it provides a wide range of services valuable to address most of the cases we were to handle. We chose RDS to manage the database as we needed a place for one that we shared between our solution and the old client’s admin panel.

Loan capability

The loan capability should be calculated based on the field of study and grades. We’re currently working on contract versioning depending on multiple variables.

Passwordless login

For secure user management and custom passwordless login, we implemented Cognito, where user accounts were created without the need for passwords. By entering their email on the website and clicking a link sent via email, users were seamlessly redirected to the portal as logged-in users.

Content management

The client needed to manage the content easily, so we used Contentful for content management. The company needed to handle various formats, including video, so we used MUX – a Contentful service.