What does a single escalated business loan look like from referral to decision?

At Aster Financial, a credit officer is assessing `APP-2187`, a small-business term loan request for 380,000 AUD. The officer's delegated limit is 250,000 AUD, so the file cannot be decided at their level.

The officer completes the financial spread, notes a debt service ratio close to the policy floor, and raises referral `REF-0931` with reason code `LIMIT_EXCEEDED`. The handover note states the recommendation (approve with added security), the evidence behind it, and what the officer is unsure about: the borrower's largest customer accounts for most of its revenue.

**State changes.** `APP-2187` moves from `IN_ASSESSMENT` to `ESCALATED`, ownership passes to a senior credit manager, and the officer's task list shows a waiting item instead of a decision task.

The senior credit manager reads the note, asks for an explanation of customer concentration, then approves subject to a registered security interest over equipment. The status becomes `APPROVED_CONDITIONAL`, and condition task `TSK-5520` returns to the officer. No offer letter is drafted until the condition is satisfied.

**What it teaches:** the officer's correct move was to stop and refer, not to decide. The quality of the handover note determined how few clarifying rounds were needed, and the outcome created new work rather than ending the case. An evaluation can check the referral reason, the note content, the status transitions and the follow-up task.