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// ON THE DESKA PILOT · THREE PAPERS, READ FREE

Your Credit Paper, Read

Every drill here ends with a senior banker's read of the file. This is the same read, of your paper.

// THE PILOT

The first three papers are read free. In return, you agree that your paper and the read may be published on this site, anonymised — no name, no employer, nothing that identifies you — so that other readers can see a first paper beside a senior banker's read of it. When three have arrived, the pilot closes and this page will say so.

// WHAT YOU SEND

A credit paper you have written on one of the Lab's published case files. Every drill now opens its file — three years of profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, the facilities and the request — which is everything a paper needs. Pick a file, make your call, and write the paper you would put in front of a credit committee: up to 1,500 words, and a page of numbers if you want one.

The files are here, and the guide to writing a credit paper shows a whole one, on Issue 04.

// WHAT YOU GET

A written read of about a thousand words, within 10 working days, in the shape the drills' senior reads take:

  • your recommendation set against the one a senior banker would make on the same file, and why;
  • the places a credit committee would stop reading and start asking;
  • the paragraph to rewrite first, and what it should say;
  • which files on the site to practise next, for the habit the paper shows.

Then one follow-up question, by email, answered in writing.

// WHO READS IT

Michael, who writes the senior reads on this site and is the author of How Bankers Think. Every paper is read by him, in full.

// WHAT IT IS NOT

  • Not a read of real documents. Never send a real borrower's file or anything from your employer. It will be returned unread.
  • Not advice. It is a read of a practice paper on a fictional composite business — not a credit decision, and not financial advice about anything real.
  • Not a promise about a job. A better paper is a better interview answer; nobody can promise the interview.

Your paper is read by one person. It is published only as the pilot's terms say — anonymised, and shown to you first — and your email address is used for nothing but the read: it is not added to the letter, and nothing is stored on this site. The paper itself is deleted 90 days after the read is sent, unless it is one of the three being published.

// FREE · THREE PLACES LEFT

  1. Pick a file from the drills and write your paper.
  2. Email it to hello@bankingjudgmentlab.com, with the subject line “Paper read: Issue” and the issue's number — as a PDF, a Word document or the text of the email.
  3. Say in the email that you agree to the pilot's terms above.
  4. The read arrives within 10 working days of your paper being accepted.
Email your paper →

// QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

Why is it free?
Because it is a pilot. Three reads will show whether a written read of a practice paper is worth offering properly, and — published, anonymised — they will show every other reader what a first paper looks like beside a senior banker's read of it.
What exactly gets published?
Your paper and the read of it, with your name, your employer and anything else that identifies you taken out. You will see exactly what is to appear before it appears.
Can I send a real credit paper from my job?
No. A real borrower's file belongs to your employer and its client, and anonymising it does not change that; it will be returned unread. Write on one of the Lab's case files instead: they are composite and published, with three years of accounts each, so there is nothing to protect and everything to practise on.
What if I have never written a credit paper?
Then this is a good first one to have read. The guide to writing a credit paper sets out the nine questions every paper answers, with a whole sample paper on Issue 04, and the read is written for the paper you send, not measured against a senior's.
Can I send an interview case answer instead?
Yes, if it is written on one of the Lab's case files — the kind of answer a panel asks for when it hands you a borrower. The read works the same way: your call against a senior banker's, and where a panel would press.
Is this financial or credit advice?
No. It is a read of a practice paper on a fictional composite business, written to teach. It says nothing about any real business, loan or decision, and nothing about your own finances.