What is a loan tape? The spreadsheet that describes a loan portfolio

What is a loan tape? The spreadsheet that describes a loan portfolio

A loan tape is a data file, usually a spreadsheet or CSV, that lists every loan in a portfolio, one row per loan. Each row records the loan's terms and how it has performed. It's the main dataset an investor uses to judge a pool of loans before funding it and to monitor the pool afterwards.

The name dates back to when this data was literally shipped on magnetic tape. The format changed. The role didn't.

What's in it

A typical tape has dozens of columns. The core ones:

• Identifiers. Loan ID, origination date, borrower ID (anonymized).
• Terms. Original principal, interest rate, term, payment frequency, amortization type.
• Borrower data. Credit score at origination, income or revenue, industry, location.
• Collateral. Type, appraised value, loan-to-value, lien position.
• Current status. Outstanding balance, next payment date, days past due.
• Payment history. Payments made, amounts, dates, any modifications or forbearance.

A static tape is a snapshot at one date. A dynamic tape, or a series of monthly tapes, shows how each loan has behaved over time. Investors usually ask for both.

How it's used

Before funding, analysts use the tape to answer three questions. Does every loan fit the credit box? How have similar loans performed historically? What losses should be expected? The answers come from slicing the tape: by origination month, by credit score band, by industry, by geography. See Delinquency, roll rates and vintages for the standard cuts.

After funding, the originator or servicer sends an updated tape each month. The investor compares it to the last one to see which loans paid, which are late, and which were charged off.

The weak point

The tape is produced by the party that benefits from it looking good. That doesn't mean tapes are usually wrong. It means there's rarely an independent check that they're right.

Common problems include loans that were modified but still show as current, payments recorded before cash actually arrived, collateral values that haven't been updated since origination, and loans that quietly disappear from one month's tape to the next.

Due diligence firms sample a subset of loans and compare tape fields to the underlying documents. That helps at the start. It doesn't help month to month.

Why it matters

Almost every number an investor sees about a private credit portfolio, from yield to default rate to concentration, is calculated from the tape. If the tape is wrong, every metric downstream is wrong too.

The fix is to check tape data against primary sources, such as bank feeds, servicer systems, and lien registries, and to fingerprint each month's tape so later edits are visible. See What is a Merkle tree? for how a tape can be fingerprinted loan by loan without exposing borrower data.