SPARK 7.8.1 Release Notes and Webinar

On Saturday, March 26th, we will release SPARK 7.8.1. This minor update adds the ability to document an official close date for a package, as well as several improvements to the SPARK user experience.

Please join us for the SPARK 7.8.1 release webinar on Thursday, March 24th, at 11:00 AM CST, where you can see a demonstration of new and improved features and ask questions about the content of this release. Sign up for the release webinar using this link.

What's New

Document an Actual Closing Date

You can now capture the specific date that a package closes in SPARK. Previously, only an estimated close date could be documented for a package. You can document the actual close date using a new field, Actual Closing Date, on the Edit Package page.

With additional configuration, you can also enter the actual closing date upon any stage change. See the Record Package Information at Stage Change section for additional information.

Once the actual closing date is set on the package, it takes precedence over the estimated closing date in the following places:

• The package header

• All custom PDF forms

• SPARK's standard landlord waiver

• SBA Form 1059

• SBA Form 1624

• SBA Form 652

• The SBA Loan Agreement

The actual closing date is also available as an additional field in reporting, the API, and the package listing on your My Dashboard page. For completed packages, the actual closing date field will assume whatever date exists in the esimated closing date field.

Record Package Information at Stage Change

In addition to the actual closing date, you can now complete the following additional fields as part of the stage change process:

• Loan Purpose

• Estimated Closing Date

• SBA Authorization Date

• SBA Loan Number

• Multiple Disbursement Indicator

• Package Number

• Alternate Package Number

• Closing Wire Indicator

• Secondary Market Indicator

This change is optional and requires configuration. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to take advantage of this change.

Refresh Credit Report and Soft Pulls

If you're using a SPARK consumer credit integration, you can now request an additional user account from your credit reporting provider so that soft pulls (refreshes) return an actual score instead of just updated trade lines.

This change requires configuration. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to take advantage of this change.

Record Risk Rating & Pre-Screen Scorecard Commentary

Both the Risk Rating and Pre-Screen Scorecard features now include a commentary field. Commentary entered in either of these features appears in the corresponding Credit Memo section.

2021 Tax Form Support for Document Analysis

SPARK now supports all standard 2021 tax forms, including:

• 1040

• 1040 Schedule C

• 1065

• 1120

• 1120-S

• 1065 K-1

• 1120-S K-1

Maintain Custom Conditions and Covenants Sort Order

You can now elect to maintain the order of conditions and covenants that is set in SPARK Configuration on all SPARK packages. When enabled, conditions and covenants that are automatically generated appear in the order defined in the Conditions and Covenants Library in SPARK Configuration. Prior to this change, conditions and covenants appeared in the order they were generated. Note that:

• Manually changing the order of conditions or adding custom conditions to a package resets the list of conditions to reflect the order set in SPARK Configuration.

• All custom conditions appear at the end of the list.

This change requires configuration. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to take advantage of this change.

What's Changed

Order of Yes/No Buttons

In all Yes/No fields, the Yes option now appears first.

2022 NAICS Codes

On February 22nd, we updated SPARK to include the new 2022 NAICS codes in order to align with E-Tran requirements. You might need to take additional action when submitting existing packages to E-Tran when those pacckages include businesses that are affected by a NAICS code change.

For example, the NAICS code for Beer, Wine and Liquor Retailers has been updated from 445310 to 445320. If you attempt to submit an existing (prior to February 22) package to E-Tran, and that package includes a primary business that has a documented NAICS code of 445310, you will receive an error. To remedy this error, you must update the NAICS code for the primary business to the new code. Please read our February product update for more information.

Configuration Performance Improvements

We made performance improvements to the following pages in SPARK configuration:

• Product Document Listing

• Global Document Listing

• Add Document to Product

SBA Form 159

In accordance with SBA changes, the label for the SBA Location ID field now states that the field is numeric only.

New Maintenance Page

A new maintenance page displays during all hotfixes and SPARK releases.

Lead Listing and the Lead Tag

The leads listing now includes the Tag column. The Tag column is used in some lender lead forms as a way to differentiate among lead sources.

Lead API and the Lead Tag

The Create Lead endpoint (POST) now supports sending a tag for supplemental information regarding the lead.

What's Been Fixed

The following changes were included in a February hotfix:

• Personal Financial Statement Validation: In SPARK 7.8, we updated our PFS validation to require assets, liabilities, and a PFS date. Due to feedback from our customers, we will no longer include liabilities in this validation.

• Document Upload Notifications: Internal users are now notified when an authorized user uploads a document to SPARK.

• Race and Prefer Not to Answer: The multi-select race field now includes the option Prefer not to answer.

• Credit Risk Acknowledgement for Non-delegated Lenders: The ability to accept the risk for a loan that scored below the SLA score threshold now only applies to delegated processing methods.

• SBA Submission Date: The new SBA Submission Date column available on personal dashboard package lists now shows the SBA Submission Date for all loans that have been submitted to the SBA.

• Decision Tracking Performance: We have made performance improvements to the decision tracking process.

• DocuSign Redirects: We have made changes to how cookies are handled, and users are no longer asked to log back in to SPARK after interacting with DocuSign.

Find Out More

Stay tuned for the latest features and subscribe to your favorite categories. If you have any feedback or questions about this release, please reach out to your favorite CSM, or email us at support@lendwithspark.com. Your feedback will help us make SPARK the best loan origination software in the market!