SPARK 7.9.5 Release Notes & Webinar

The SPARK 7.9.5 release is planned for Saturday, August 26th. This update includes updates to Tasks and Terms.

We invite you to join us for a release webinar on Thursday, August 24th at 11:00 AM CT, where you can see a demonstration and ask questions about the content of this release. Sign up for the release webinar using this link.

To view a recording of the webinar, please click this link.

The maintenance window will occur from 9:00 PM CT on Saturday, August 26th through 10:00 AM CT on Sunday, August 27th.

What's New

New User Experience for Tasks

We're excited to share that we have made some visual and functional updates to our Tasks feature.

• Task Types now include the entity name when applicable for 3rd Party Report and Collect Document Tasks. For example, when a report needs to be ordered for a specific business, that business name will appear in the task name.

• The Edit and Add Task workflows have been updated to follow a similar workflow we introduced last year for Dashboard Task Lists.

• Additional filtering options are available for incomplete and overdue Tasks.

Product-Specific Tasks

Our users now have the option to configure particular Task Types to be made available for each product. This will allow more customization of Tasks based on what needs to be performed for various loan products. If you would like to use Product-Specific Tasks in your SPARK instance, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

Automated To Do Tasks

Historically, only Collect Document and 3rd Party Report Tasks could be automatically generated in SPARK. Now To Do Tasks can be autogenerated so that your team doesn't need to add them manually to each package. If you are interested in implementing Automated To Do Tasks in your SPARK instance, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

New User Experience for Terms

We have made some visual and functional updates to our Terms feature to improve the process of adding and editing Terms. Adding a source of funds is now a one-step process with the option to edit the pre-payment penalty on the package for non-SBA sources of funds.

Option to hide Referral Fees from Referral Partner Portal

For lenders who prefer that Referral Fees are hidden from the SPARK Referral Partner Portal, that setting can be changed for each referral partner when creating or editing the partner user account.

Appraisal Strategy

When collateral with a lien position is added to a package with a valuation method of Appraisal, the associated document placeholder will autogenerate if configured for that product. This requires a configuration change. If you would like to implement this change, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

SBA Authorization Date in Package Lists

Users may now include SBA Authorization Date as a field in any package list.

What's Changed

Eligibility and Policy Changes from SOP 50 10 7

The eligibility changes below will impact all loans processed under SOP 50 10 7.

• The General Eligibility - 7(a) Small Loan section has been updated to reflect changes from the new SOP and no longer includes the question regarding the lender's credit memo.

• The Business Acquisition - Change of Ownership Questionnaire has been removed.

• The Refinance - General Refinance Eligibility section no longer includes the SBIC question.

• The Refinance - Same Institution Debt section has been updated to reflect changes from the new SOP. Questions that were specific to different SBA loan programs or processing methods are no longer applicable.

• The Refinance - 504 Loan section has been updated to reflect changes from the new SOP.

• A new Refinance - SBA Loan section has been added to include additional eligibility checks for SBA loan refinancing.

• The Refinance - Construction and Improvements section has been removed.

**As a result of these changes, any loans with either the Business Acquisition or Refinance sections filled out in SBA Eligibility that have NOT been sent to E-Tran will have a new section replacing the existing section. This means that any work that is in progress in the Business Acquisition or Refinance sections will be lost, and will need to be redone. We apologize for this inconvenience.

The following forms have been disabled and will no longer be included on SBA loan packages going forward.

• SBA Form 1920

• SBA Form 1971

Removed Field Requirements for Disbursements

We have added two additional configuration options for Disbursement Manager:

• Require Disbursement Documentation - By default, disbursement documentation will be required; however, if you would like your SPARK environment to not require supporting documentation for disbursements it can be turned off by your Customer Success Manager. This is a global change and will impact all of your products that use Disbursement Manager.

• Require Disbursement Payment Information - By default, disbursement payment information will be required; however, if you would like your SPARK environment to not require documenting the draw method and additional payment details it can be turned off by your Customer Success Manager. This is a global change and will impact all of your products that use Disbursement Manager.

Neither of these settings impact the borrower-facing disbursement manager feature. Borrowers will still be required to provide supporting documentation and payment information when requesting disbursements from the applicant portal.

Option to set default RMA Comparisons

Lenders can now configure default RMA Comparisons so that they do not need to be edited within Financial Analysis on each package. If you would like to implement a change to default RMA Comparisons in your SPARK instance, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

What's Been Fixed

• Option to set custom document placeholder as joint - We've added back the ability to add a joint document when adding a placeholder to a package.

• Recent Documents Ordering - The Recent Documents view has been updated to order documents by the date uploaded rather than the name of the document.

• E-Tran Controlling Interest Error - Changes were made in E-Tran that impacted how SPARK was sending controlling interest for owners. We updated the mapping in a recent hotfix.

• Comparison Analysis and Commentary - Customers who choose a subset of financial ratios in comparison analysis were unable to update the commentary. We addressed the bug in a hotfix.

• Unable to Select Document Views - Customers with a large number of custom document views were unable to scroll to the bottom of the view drop-down. We fixed the bug in a hotfix.

• Unable to Upload Documents in Disbursement Manager - An issue was identified related to uploading supporting documentation for disbursement requests. The issue was addressed in a hotfix.

Find Out More

Stay tuned for the latest features and subscribe to your favorite categories. You can view our product roadmap at any time here.

If you have any feedback or questions about this release, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or email us at support@lendwithspark.com. Your feedback will help us make SPARK the best loan origination software in the market!