SPARK 7.1.7 Release Notes

DATE: August 8, 2020

AUTHOR: The SPARK team

What's New

These features were released August 8, 2020. Here are some new features we included in this release.

PPP Forgiveness Portal Integration

Overview

The SBA has released a Forgiveness Portal for all PPP lenders to facilitate forgiveness application submission, messaging with the SBA regarding forgiveness application, and monitoring payment status. On August 10th, the SBA will open the portal up for application submissions through the standard portal and through API connections. As part of this release, we have enhanced our forgiveness toolset to include direct integration to the SBA’s portal.

Prerequisites

To take advantage of SPARK’s integration, the Authorizing Official (AO) of your institution will need to do the following:

Enter ACH Information – The AO must login to the SBA’s Forgiveness Portal and enter ACH information in the Institution Settings section.
Create an API Key – SPARK recommends creating a dedicated “API User” for the sole purpose of generating API key. When creating the new user, the AO should check the box titled “Enable API Key for this user”. Once the user is created, clicking on the username will display the API Token. The SBA will provide additional details closer to release of the Forgiveness Portal.
Provide API Key to SPARK Administrator or SPARK Support – Once the API key has been generated, the AO must provide the key to your SPARK Administrator.
Enter the API Key in SPARK – All SPARK locations that have PPP loans that need to be forgiven will need the API Key entered in the field labeled “Lender Forgiveness API Key”.

If you are an LSP or a lender facilitating the forgiveness process on behalf of other lenders, you must obtain a unique API key for each lender and enter the forgiveness API key into each location in your instance of SPARK.

SBA Forgiveness Review Status

The SBA has published information regarding the various statuses for a submitted forgiveness application. The SBA’s status will be visible from within a specific SPARK forgiveness application, the forgiveness application listing, and SPARK reporting.

Pending – the forgiveness application has been successfully submitted and is awaiting acceptance by an SBA Reviewer.
Under Review – the forgiveness application is being reviewed by the SBA.
Fully Approved – the forgiveness application has been approved for the full amount requested.
Partially Approved – the forgiveness application has been approved for the partial amount requested.
Additional Info Needed – the SBA Reviewer needs additional documentation to make a decision. Additional documentation requirements are available within the SPARK forgiveness application.
Not Approved (Denied) – the forgiveness application has been rejected by the SBA.
Payment Sent – Payment has been disbursed by the SBA. The SBA will also provide SPARK with the final approved forgiveness amount and interest amount.
Payment Confirmed – Payment has been received by the Lender.
Payment Failed – Payment was disbursed by the SBA, but not received by the Lender.

Additional information regarding the forgiveness process that is available within the SBA Forgiveness Portal will be provided by the SBA.

Status Notifications

A new notification has been added to SPARK to support SBA status change notifications. The individual who originally submitted the forgiveness application will receive notifications whenever the SBA changes the status of a submitted forgiveness application. Status notifications will only be sent once per day and will not be in real time due to limitations with the SBA’s API.

Forgiveness Application Submission

Once a forgiveness application has been signed by the borrower, it can be submitted to the SBA’s Forgiveness Portal with one of the following options:

Approved in Full – The lender approves the full forgiveness amount documented in SBA Form 3508 / 3508EZ.
Approved in Part – The lender does not approve of the forgiveness amount documented in SBA Form 3508 / 3508EZ and would like to submit an alternate forgiveness amount to the SBA. *
Denied – The lender does not approve of the request for forgiveness.
Denied without Prejudice – The loan is currently being reviewed by the SBA and the SBA has recommended denial.

* SPARK does not support sending a loan to the SBA’s Forgiveness Portal using “Approved in Part”. Please see the section below on how partial approvals are handled in SPARK.

Find Out More

If you're interested in learning more, please check out these helpful links:

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