New TX-specific configurations for Pre-Approval Letters (PALs)

Available: Now, Opt In

Which customers are impacted?

The features outlined below will only affect customers using the pre-approval letters in Blend.

How to turn on

This will not automatically be turned on for our customers. It will be available beginning on the dates listed above. If you’d like to take advantage of this functionality, please email support@blend.com.

Purpose of Update and Benefit

The pre-approval letter is one of the key LO Toolkit functionalities that is used by loan officers. Today, we allow a default template as well as state-specific templates. The state-by-state templates allow lenders to create different versions of the PAL template, depending on state compliance rules. However, there are certain states like Texas that have even more requirements that are not currently covered by our existing PAL template. We are introducing three new optional configurations to better support the PAL requirements for the state of Texas.

The features outlined below are opt-in and will only affect customers using the pre-approval letter in Blend. Please contact Blend Support or your Blend representative in order to configure these in your environment(s).

New Behavior

See below for a list of new configurations that are available for the pre-approval letter in Blend.

Income, Assets, Debt, Available cash to close checkboxes
This configuration can be enabled on a state by state basis (required for the state of Texas) or for all PAL templates. When enabled, the “Send pre-approval letter” modal will show four checkboxes: Income, Debts, Available cash to close, and Assets.

These four options will appear in the body of the PAL copy. The loan team can manually check and uncheck these options as appropriate for the loan. When checked, the item will say “YES.” When unchecked, the item will say “NO.” Debts, Income, and Assets boxes will dynamically be checked or unchecked based on whether the loan team has completed those checks within the lender application prior to generating the pre-approval letter.

The Debts checkbox will be automatically checked (and therefore will read “YES” in the body copy) if credit has run. Given that credit needs to be run in order to generate a PAL, this box will likely always be checked.

The Income checkbox will be automatically checked if TWN verification has been successfully run.

The Assets checkbox will be automatically checked if the borrower connected assets during the application process.

The Available cash to close checkbox will not automatically be checked, and will always be up to the loan team to check at their discretion.

Lenders can also provide static introductory text that can appear at the top of this group of items. This text and the four items will appear within the PAL body per the screenshot below.

Manually inputted address in signature

The “Ability to add the company address to the signature block for Pre-Approval Letters (PALs)” mentioned elsewhere in this release note is a prerequisite for this configuration. The environment must also be configured to only display the organization’s contact information in the signature block (vs. the loan originator’s contact information).

This configuration was built for lenders who would like to allow their LOs to input their branch address. This configuration can only be set at the global template letter and not the state-specific level.

When enabled, loan team members will have the option to manually enter an address to display in the pre-approval letter’s signature block. Loan teams will see a new set of options in the “Send pre-approval letter” modal.

Clicking “Manually inputted address” in the modal will surface an “Enter address” option.

Clicking on this will show a new screen that will allow manual entry of an address.

After clicking “Save,” the manually-entered address will appear in the signature block.

New template field: loanTerm
Blend has added a new template field, loanTerm, that can be added to the body of the pre-approval letter. This field will explicitly state the length of the loan product. This new field is available for use in global and state-specific PAL templates.

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