Under Transforms Disjointed Financial Documents into Smooth and Secure Forms with PSPDFKit

“In finance, you need a hard copy. So no matter how good that frontend process is digitally, and if that person’s verified, you’re eventually going to need to put that in a PDF, which is where PSPDFKit tools come in so handy for us and for our clients”

Transforming Financial Services Applications and Underwriting

During the pandemic, fintech was a necessity. Today, it has become an expectation of consumers. The act of visiting a brick and mortar bank branch or financial office is nearly obsolete, and the shift in customer behaviors drives financial firms — and the tech companies that support them — to innovate.

With nine out of ten people using up to four fintech apps to manage their finances, the team at Under understood the assignment. Today, the company delivers key innovations in information gathering, verification, and presentation for B2B fintech clients and the customers they serve.

Under’s Approach to PDF Integration

The Under platform combines tools for quickly building and approving online financial applications: everything from simple “contact us” forms to full merchant processor agreements. Using PSPDFKit for Web, Under also changes how financial organizations manage their applicant document workflows, one PDF at a time.

“We specialize in the critical frontend tasks — from building digital applications, to mapping data onto PDFs,” said Under co-founder Mike Abramovic.

Under’s Vision: Make Five-Minute Applications a Reality

According to Abramovic, “The PDF documents used for application data capture are perhaps the least appreciated aspect of a salesperson’s or agent’s job. Yet ensuring accurate data is critical, as it reduces the workload reaching underwriters’ desks and helps them make faster and better-informed loan decisions.”

When processing customer applications, agents previously spent nearly an hour preparing each document, as pricing and sales information can be custom for individual clients. Additionally, companies constantly adjust their application forms to prevent new methods of fraud and to adapt to new or changing regulations, which adds significant time and operational cost.

To address the shifting needs in fintech documentation, Under created a five-minute digital application process. Leveraging the PSPDFKit Web SDK, Under transformed existing application documents into dynamic, adjustable PDF forms.

“We wanted to simplify applications for people,” said Abramovic. “And if we narrow building applications to a few minutes each, it puts us in the position of creating unique, differentiated value for our customers.”

Under Simplified Managing 400-Field Forms and Integrating eSignatures

Under needed to make its PDF Mapper product easy for customers to use, with all the form elements from their third-party PDF editors available. The Under team also sought a way to intuitively map electronic signatures.

But some financial applications like loans and mortgages are extensive, involving multiple signatories and requiring many pages to be filled with complex form fields.

“Nobody ever wakes up excited and thinking about mapping those PDFs with 400 fields,” Abramovic jested. “They want an ‘Easy’ button for it so they can do work that generates revenue.”

Evaluating PSPDFKit for Web and Open Source Alternatives

As adoption of the PDF Mapper minimal viable product (MVP) picked up quickly, so did the expectations for more features and better performance, creating the need for Under to find a PDF engine that created a greater competitive advantage.

“We did look at building it all ourselves, and we withstood some of that early pressure during the MVP with open source, despite it wobbling a little bit,” recalled Abramovic.

Under assessed the PSPDFKit for Web SDK because the feature set and stability enable quick and easy mapping of those massive 400-field forms. PSPDFKit also delivers intuitive eSignatures, which put the Under team on the fast path to developing complete PDF functionality as a cornerstone of its platform.

• Automatic identification of existing form fields within uploaded PDFs.

• Quick addition and customization of a complete array of PDF form elements — including checkboxes, radial buttons, dropdown lists, and eSignature fields using drag and drop.

• Automated filling of fields with personal data verified and secured within the Under platform.

“Time to market for us was critical,” said Abramovic. “PSPDFKit came in and did exactly what it said it did. From there, it was a pretty quick cost-benefit analysis to justify its adoption.”

Delivering a Unified Experience in Providing Faster Applications and More Efficient Transactions

Today, Under leverages PSPDFKit, pairing powerful PDF features with its robust, web-based form builder and data verification tools.

“PSPDFKit enabled us to integrate a fast and stable PDF Mapper — a big change for our customers when compared to their assorted legacy tools,” said Abramovic.

Integrating PSPDFKit’s SDK into Under’s platform means all PDF operations happen in-house, keeping sensitive data within the Under environment.

Further Innovation Using the PSPDFKit Sandbox

After delegating the complex PDF aspects to PSPDFKit, the Under team is now exploring innovation with additional components.

“PSPDFKit provides such a good sandbox that easily handles our use cases today and is flexible for what we might need tomorrow,” said Abramovic.

Under is considering extensions, including PDF content editing, as well as OCR to transform existing paper documents into dynamic PDF forms. There are also synergies with other cutting-edge developments, such as generative AI, to streamline underwriting and applications further, no matter how complex.

Take a look at Under’s vision for the future shared by founder Jeff Shea on the CCSalesPro podcast.

With current achievements, Under believes its partnership with PSPDFKit will enable the company to evolve the human experience with documents for the future.