SPARK 7.8.4 Release Notes and Webinar

On Saturday, July 9th, we will release SPARK 7.8.4. This update includes new functionality for the Personal Financial Statement and new support for IRS Form 8821.

Please join us for a SPARK release webinar on Thursday, June 30th at 11:00 AM CST, where you can see a demonstration and ask questions about the content of this release. You can see a recording of the webinar at this link.

What's New

Lender Adjusted Column on the Personal Financial Statement

We are excited to announce that SPARK now allows lenders to document lender-adjusted amounts on the Personal Financial Statement. This feature allows lenders to document adjustments while maintaining the original data provided by the applicant. This feature will be enabled by default but can be optionally disabled.

For PFS categories that include detailed line items, lender users must now make adjustments via the line item detail screen or the Lender Adjusted column, rather than updating the summed amount directly.

Support for IRS Form 8821

SPARK now supports IRS Form 8821 for Tax Information Authorization. This much-requested change allows lenders to use this form in lieu of Form 4506-C. IRS instructions for this form can be referenced here.

If you would like to take advantage of this form, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to update your configuration.

Add Existing Fees to Tasks

When completing a 3rd Party Report task, we have added the option to select an existing fee from Project Accounting, in addition to the option to create a new fee. This functionality has been added to the new Dashboard Task View as well as the Tasks page within a Package.

Limited Guaranty Details Added to the Credit Summary

'Limited Guarantor Details' will now populate in the Borrowers and Guarantors portion of the Credit Summary when added to Individuals who are Limited Guarantors.

What's Changed

Guarantor Analysis Workflow

In addition to the aforementioned PFS improvements, we have streamlined the user experience for Guarantor Analysis within SPARK. All functionality within the Guarantor Analysis feature has undergone significant workflow improvements, including the introduction of autosave.

Snippets Within Guarantor Analysis

In addition to the general workflow updates to Guarantor Analysis, we have also updated the interaction with Snippets in that area of SPARK. All core functionality remains the same, in a more intuitive workflow.

Manual Debt Schedule Document Generation in Excel Format

Historically, when a Debt Schedule placeholder was set to generate as an Excel file, it could not be manually generated from the Documents page. Now the Debt Schedule can be generated from the Documents page as either an Excel or PDF file.

Email Notifications for Document Uploads by Partner Users

Internal users with the Email Notification Setting 'Document Uploaded' will now receive notifications when documents are uploaded by either partner or external users.

Dashboard Task Views Improvements

In our last release, we introduced Activity Tracking for tasks. We have expanded this tracking to include changes to Due Date, Owner, Assigned To, and Task Description.

We have also added a warning to prompt users to save their changes before exiting the Dashboard Tasks panel.

Increase to GL Account Code Character Limit

The maximum character length for GL Account Codes has been increased from 20 to 30.

What's Been Fixed

• Copy Package Issues - We fixed a number of issues related to copying packages.

• Notes Attached to a Credit Memo - A bug was resolved where a note was added to the "Create Credit Memo" page and someone was mentioned in the note. An error would occur when the person attempted to view the original note in the context of the page.

• Creating Multiple Industry Analyses - An error no longer occurs when attempting to create a second industry analysis for a package.

• PayNet Score Unavailable - SPARK now shows three different scoring options, rather than two, when three scores have been configured.

• Incorrect Count of Uploaded Documents in Information Request - The Information Request feature now shows the correct total of uploaded documents.

• Lender-verified Placeholders and Applicants - Applicants can no longer upload a document to a placeholder that contains a verified document.

• Invalid "Discard Changes" Message in Sources and Uses - We have removed an invalid message indicating that changes haven't been saved.

• Documents Uploaded to Tasks - Documents uploaded to tasks now assume the universal placeholder name as expected.

• Expired DocuSign Tokens and Electronic Signatures - Users with an expired DocuSign token no longer encounter an error when opening the Electronic Signatures page in SPARK.

• Notes and Mentioning the Same Person Twice - An error no longer appears if you mention the same person more than once in a note.

• Total Exposure and Deleted Packages - Total exposure now calculates accurately for applicants who are associated with a previously deleted package.

• Importing a Contact when Spouse Exists on the Package - We will no longer import the spouse for a contact if the spouse already exists on the package.

• Address 2 is now being included in all sections of SBA Forms 1919 and 1920.

• Address 2 is now being sent to the SBA for the physical and mailing addresses of borrowers, associates, and guarantors.

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!