# Most L/C Discrepancies Are Born Before You Produce a Single Document

> Unmeetable deadlines, certificates nobody issues, terms that contradict the contract: they are in the L/C. The day it arrives is the cheapest day to fix it.

Source: https://www.loamist.com/blog/discrepancies-are-born-in-the-lc/
Published: 2026-08-27 · Workability · By Nick Pachnev, Senior Advisor

Most discrepancies are born before you produce a single document. They are in the L/C itself: a deadline you cannot meet, a certificate your inspector cannot issue, terms that contradict the sales contract. By the time you are preparing documents, you are not preventing those discrepancies. You are inheriting them.

## What a defective credit looks like

The credit arrives by [MT700](https://www.swift.com/standards) and looks routine. Somewhere in fields 44C to 47A there is a problem that nobody will notice until a document checker does:

- A latest shipment date three weeks out for goods with a five-week production lead time.
- A phytosanitary or inspection certificate worded in a way no agency in the loading port will sign.
- A goods description copied from an old contract, not the one you actually signed.
- A port of discharge that the named carrier does not serve on the required routing.
- A presentation period of five days for originals that take a week to reach the bank.

None of these can be fixed by preparing documents carefully. The documents will be discrepant because the credit asked for something that cannot be delivered.

## The price of the fix rises every week

The time to fix an L/C is the day it arrives, while an [amendment](https://library.iccwbo.org/content/tfb/BRIEFINGS/20240805_TA_Briefing_No_10_Amendments.pdf) is still one message to your buyer. An amendment at that point runs roughly USD 50 to 200 in bank fees. The same defect found at presentation draws a discrepancy fee of USD 50 to 150, charged per discrepancy and again on every re-presentation.

The fee is the smallest part of it. A discrepant presentation hands your buyer a reason to delay payment or renegotiate the price. Compare the two conversations. "Please amend field 44C to 30 days later" is a routine request made from a position of strength, before you have spent anything. "We shipped, the documents are discrepant, please waive" is a request made after the cargo has left, with the buyer holding every card.

## Reading the L/C on arrival

Validator reads the credit the moment you receive it and tells you what is workable and what will create problems, before you commit to production. It checks the terms against [UCP 600](https://library.iccwbo.org/), [eUCP](https://library.iccwbo.org/) and [ISBP 821E](https://library.iccwbo.org/), and against what it has learned about your cargo, your corridors and your document suppliers from past shipments. The output is a short list of clauses to amend, each with the reason, ready to forward to the buyer.

## Key takeaways

- Many discrepancies are structural defects in the credit, not errors in the documents.
- An amendment on day one costs about what a single discrepancy fee costs, and it fixes the problem permanently.
- Leverage moves from exporter to buyer the moment the goods ship. Review before that point.

[Try the free workability check](https://www.loamist.com/lc-check.html) on a credit you have in hand, or read our [10-point pre-shipment L/C review](https://www.loamist.com/how-to-review-export-letter-of-credit-before-shipment.html) for the manual version.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does an LC amendment cost?

Bank amendment fees typically run USD 50 to 200 per amendment. That is comparable to a single discrepancy fee, but an amendment fixes the problem once, while a discrepancy fee recurs on every re-presentation and comes with delay.

### When should I review a new letter of credit?

The day it arrives, before production or booking is committed. That is when an amendment is still a single message to your buyer and the leverage is still yours.