SPARK 8.1.0 Release Notes & Webinar

The SPARK 8.1.0 release is planned for Friday, August 16th. This update includes Companion Packages and enhanced support for Interim Loans. The maintenance window will occur from 11:00 PM CT on Friday, August 16th through 9:00 AM CT on Saturday, August 17th.

Please join us for a release webinar on Thursday, August 15th at 11:00 AM CT, where you can see a demonstration and ask questions about the content of this release. You can view a recording of the webinar at this link.

What's New

Companion Packages

One year ago, we began our journey to research and develop Companion Packages (also known as Companion Loans). We're excited to announce the release of this new functionality in SPARK!

Companion Packages are two or more loans or packages that are structured to jointly finance a single project.

Here is an overview of what lenders can do with this powerful new feature:

• Create a companion relationship between two or more packages.

• Shared Sources and Uses, Terms, Businesses, Individuals, Collateral, Documents, Tasks, Decision Tracking, Fees, and Scoring

• Shared analyses: Guarantor Analysis, Financial Analysis, CAIVRS, Total Exposure, Franchise, Industry, Lease, Debt Schedules, Personal Cash Flow

• Shared commentary: Management and Operations, Strengths/Weaknesses, Project Summary, and Sources of Repayment

• Shared Pre-Screen Memos, Letters of Interest, Credit Memos, and Commitment Letters

Take a look at our previous announcement for some more details on this functionality, and tune into our release webinar to see a walkthrough of these exciting updates. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager if your team is interested in using Companion Packages in SPARK.

Interim Loans

A specific type of companion package that we have introduced special support for is interim loans.

The support for interim loans includes:

• Automatically syncing of uses of funds between the additional financing on the permanent loan and primary financing on the interim loan. For 504 loans, only eligible uses of funds will be synced.

• All shared features listed for companion packages above will also be shared between permanent and interim loans. The interim loan will be excluded from the Financial Analysis and Business Debt Schedules.

What's Changed

Decision Tracking

We have made several visual enhancements to Decision Tracking. 

Letters of Interest & Commitment Letters

We have made several visual enhancements to Letters of Interest and Commitment Letters. Please note: these terms are generic; your organization might use different terminology for these letters.

Credit Memos & Pre-Screen Memos

We have made several visual and functional enhancements to Credit Memos and Pre-Screen Memos. Please note: these terms are generic; your organization might use different terminology for these documents.

One of the most exciting updates here is the enhanced tracking features for Credit Memos. Now, when viewing the Credit Memo listing, SPARK will display the Last Activity related to Decision Requests for Credit Memos. Additionally, the Document Listing will automatically include all historical versions of Credit Memos associated with a Decision Request.

Option to SLA Score and Pre-Check the Same Package

Lenders can now request both an SLA Score and a Pre-Check for the same SBA package, which requires two applications in E-Tran. Here’s an overview of the process:

Scenario 1: Lender Requests Pre-Check First

• Lender initiates a pre-check for a package.

  • An application is created in E-Tran, and the SBA Application Number is saved to the package in SPARK.

• Lender then requests an SLA Score for the same package.

  • A second application is created in E-Tran, but the SBA Application Number is NOT saved to the package in SPARK.

  • Note: Since a pre-check may take 1-2 days, retaining the pre-check Application Number is prioritized.

Scenario 2: Lender Requests SLA Score First

• Lender initiates an SLA Score request for a package.

  • An application is created in E-Tran, and the SBA Application Number is saved to the package in SPARK.

  • Lender then requests a pre-check for the same package.

• An application is created in E-Tran, and the SBA Application Number for the package is UPDATED to reflect the pre-check’s Application Number.

  • Note: Since a pre-check may take 1-2 days, retaining the pre-check Application Number is prioritized.

Terms

We have made several visual updates to the Terms section. The most significant change is renaming the 'Additional Financing' group to 'Other Financing,' to better reflect its inclusion of any non-primary financing sources.

Floating Back to Top Button 

The "Back to Top" button is now a floating option that appears when users scroll beneath the page fold. Previously, this button was only available in the footer.

Documenting Referral Fee Percentages

Referral fee percentages can now be typed in rather than selected from a dropdown menu. 

Document Placeholder Name in Document Uploaded Notification

The Document Uploaded email notifications now include the Document Placeholder Name, providing recipients with more context.

E-Tran Pre-Check and Error Codes

Several months ago, we updated our Pre-Check status to include specific error messages to provide our lenders with more detailed information. This enhancement was aimed at displaying the 4363 (compliance issue) and 2087 (affiliate has a prior defaulted loan) errors. However, some of the additional E-Tran error messages displayed have caused confusion among our customers. For clarity, SPARK will now only display the 4363 and 2087 errors identified when a Pre-Check is submitted.

Settlement Statement Generation Post-Closing

We've updated the logic for generating a settlement statement to support lenders who need to revert a previously completed settlement statement to in progress post-closing. Prior to this change, the settlement statement PDF would never be balanced after post-closing disbursements were added to the package.

What's Been Fixed

• Auto-saving of commentary - A hotfix was released shortly after the last release to address an issue with the auto-saving of various commentary fields in SPARK.

• Adding a Document Placeholder to a Checklist - A hotfix was released shortly after the release to improve the performance of adding a document placeholder to a checklist.

• Debt schedule - A hotfix was released to address an issue with updating a business borrower's debt schedule.

• Saving Insurance Requirements - A hotfix was released to address an issue with saving insurance requirements.

• Document Exports / Generating PDFs - A hotfix was released to address an issue where documents that could be joint were associated to a business and we were assuming they would only be associated to individuals.

• Document Analysis and Businesses with an Ampersand - A hotfix was released to address an issue where a business with an amerpsand (&) in the name would not display the full name of the business.

• Ownership not saving for referral partners - A hotfix was released to address an issue with the ownership structure not saving properly for referral partners referring packages through SPARK.

• Conditions and Covenants not saving - A hotfix was released to address an issue where the conditions and covenants save button would continue pulsing after the initial save.

• Get Single Document via API - A hotfix was released to address an issue retrieving an individual document in the SPARK API.

• Get Invoices via API - A hotfix was released to address an issue retrieving invoices via the SPARK API.

• Collateral Calculations not Displayed in Credit Memo - A hotfix was released to address an issue with the collateral calculations not being reflected on a credit memo.

• E-Tran Special Purposes and CAP Lines - A hotfix was released to change how SPARK maps the special purposes for a loan submitted with a CAP line processing method.

• Information Request Documents Activity with No Documents - A hotfix was released to address an issue where a documents activity in an information request was failing when there were no document placeholders available.

• E-Tran Principals and Phone Numbers - We have updated our E-Tran mapping to send the principal phone number to E-Tran. Even though we pass the phone numbers for borrowers, a validation error was occurring in E-Tran when a business borrower was also a principal of another business borrower. This was updated 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, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or submit a ticket to the SPARK Support Team. Your feedback will help us make SPARK the best loan origination software in the market!