Pre-Qualification Letter
Pre-Qualification Letter Overview
The Maxwell Pre-Qualification tool enables lenders to quickly generate professional, templated pre-qualification letters for borrowers and real estate agents. The tool automatically pulls key data from the loan application and pricing process, producing a clean and accurate pre-qualification letter in minutes.
Lenders can also allow borrowers to generate their own pre-qualification letters within lender-defined limits. You can configure flexible parameters such as maximum purchase price, down payment adjustments, and monthly payment ranges to support borrowers during active home shopping.
Providing this level of self-service empowers borrowers to confidently submit offers during evenings, weekends, or other times when a loan officer may not be available. This helps borrowers stay competitive in fast-moving markets.
Lender Hub Pre-Qual Workflow
The most common way lender organizations use the Pre-Qual tool is by generating letters through the Pre-Qual tab.
To create a pre-qualification letter for your borrower, complete the following steps:
Fill out a loan application.
Select a loan product and pricing.
Run AUS to obtain a pre-qualification decision.
Go to the loan file, then open the Pre-Qual tab.
In the Pre-Qual tab, you will see all editable fields. Most fields are pre-filled with data collected during the loan application and pricing process. The loan officer can update or complete any fields as needed.
The loan officer has the option to allow the borrower to generate their own pre-qualification letter. This option gives borrowers the ability to create their own letters within lender-defined limits. You can set flexible boundaries for purchase price, down payment, and monthly payment adjustments to support active home shopping. Selecting this option will open the window labeled Edit Borrower Generated Max Values.
The loan officer sets the maximum and minimum limits that the borrower can modify in the pre-qualification letter. For example, if a borrower needs to increase their offer price, they can adjust the loan amount and down payment within the limits you define. This gives the loan officer a way to empower the borrower and their real estate agent to adapt their offer while staying within agreed boundaries.
After saving these settings, a Pre-Qual Letter tab will appear in the borrower’s Hub within the loan file. Borrowers will then have the ability to view, edit, and adjust their pre-qualification letter as needed.
The LO can then Preview and Generate a letter.
After the letter is generated, a button will appear that allows the loan officer to send the letter to the borrower and customize the message that accompanies it.
Clicking send will email the borrower the qualification letter and create a new task for them to view/download the letter. The LO can also download the letter as PDF and provide it to the borrower via email.
Borrower Hub Experience
There are three different ways a borrower can experience the pre-qualification letter. The options below are outlined from the most basic to the most advanced.
Static Pre-Qual Letter task
Adjustable Pre-Qual Letter tab
Automated self-serve Pre-Qual Letter blueprint workflow
1. Static Pre-Qual Letter
The simplest way for a borrower to receive a pre-qualification letter is through a Pre-Qual Letter task. In this workflow, the lender generates the pre-qualification letter using the steps outlined above. skipping steps 6 and 7. Do not select the checkbox to allow borrowers to generate Pre-Qualification Letters.
After generating and sending the letter to the borrower, the borrower receives the letter as a Task with a PDF document attached. They can download the letter and share with their real estate agent for a purchase offer.
2. Adjustable Pre-qual Letter
In competitive markets, homebuyers often submit multiple offers with different purchase prices, down payments, and expense details that affect overall affordability and monthly payments. Timing is critical, and a borrower may need to submit a valid offer on the same day a home becomes available. To reduce the pressure on both lenders and borrowers, Maxwell provides a feature that allows the loan officer to give the borrower and their real estate agent the flexibility to adjust offer details within limits defined by the loan officer.
How it works
At the time of generating the pre-qualification letter, the loan officer selects the box that allows borrowers to generate pre-qualification letters. This enables the borrower to adjust pricing fields within the maximum and minimum limits set by the loan officer.
Enter borrower generated Min/Max values
Generate and Send the Pre-Qual letter.
Borrower will receive a notification that a pre-qual is available.
The borrower will see a new Pre-Qual Letter tab, which mirrors the lender’s editing experience. All fields are populated with the values defined by the loan officer, and the borrower can adjust them within the allowed limits.
The borrower can modify and generate multiple offer letters within the ranges set by the loan officer. If the selected product or pricing has changed since the initial letter was created, the tool will notify the borrower before they generate a new version.
If the borrower attempts to exceed a pre-defined limit, the tool will notify them of the error and prevent them from generating a letter until the values are adjusted within the allowed range.
3. Automated Self-Serve Pre-qual Letter Blueprint Workflow
Some lenders want borrowers to complete an entire application and independently receive a pre-qualification decision. Maxwell supports this through configurable application blueprint workflows. Using Maxwell’s flexible blueprints, a lender can create a pre-qualification flow and apply preset criteria to determine eligibility.
The borrower completes a series of steps as they move through their application. These steps help gather the necessary information to prepare for pre-qualification. You can learn more about these steps and configuration options in Automated Borrower Pre-qualification Workflows documentation.
Maxwell can configure a number of default values that allow the system to run AUS at any point in the application process, even when some borrower information is missing. The lender can apply assumed values for fields such as:
Assumed loan amount
Assumed zip code
Assumed credit score
Assumed product and rate
These assumed values act as temporary placeholders until the borrower provides actual information during the application. Lenders can also configure the flow so that each of these fields must be completed by the borrower before a letter can be generated.
The system is configurable and can incorporate more than one eligibility rule or AUS finding when determining whether to issue a pre-qualification letter. Lenders can choose to run one or multiple integrated AUS systems and return the pre-qualification outcome to the borrower based on the results.
Example: In the screen shown below, the borrower has completed the full application, run credit, and selected a product and pricing option. After this, AUS was run and the borrower was determined to be eligible. Because of this result, the system displays the Pre-Qualification Letter follow-up task.
Example Automated Pre-Qualification Flow
Below is a series of screenshots that illustrate a simple custom pre-qualification flow. These screenshots are meant to demonstrate the concept. When we work with clients, we create custom workflows tailored to their needs, and a version of the flow shown here can be incorporated into the overall application process and follow-up tasks.
Pre-Qual Letter Customizations
The PDF letter that the borrower receives is displayed below. Each highlighted area below represents a section that can be customized. The customizations are global for each site and will be applied to all pre-qualification letters generated from that site.
Explanation of the areas:
Disclaimer above the header - this is an optional disclaimer in small letters that can appear above the header
Header - the header contains a logo and can have a background color that will cover the entire dashed area. By default the logo and the background color will be the same as configured for the Borrower Hub. If desired, a different logo and background color (or no color) can be used for the pre-qualification letter.
Header content - optionally content can be added to the right side of the header. It could be text or image.
Disclaimer below the header - this is an optional disclaimer in small letters that can appear below the header and above the borrower's address.
Title - the title by default says "Congratulations!" but can be changed to say something else, or be removed completely. The color of the title is the same as the main brand color for the site, but can be customized to be different.
Intro paragraph - one or more paragraphs that appear before the loan details table.
Loan details - each loan detail box can be visible or hidden.
Closing paragraph - one or more paragraphs that appear after the loan details table.
Sale contingency paragraph - the Loan Officer can choose whether to include or not this copy when generating the letter if there is contingency on selling the current property. The copy is customized at the Parter or Site level and cannot be edited by the Loan Officer,
Signature - if an LO is assigned to the application, their name, title, phone, email and NMLS ID will be automatically pre-filled. The order of those items cannot be customized, but the font size, color and attributes for those items can be adjusted.
Footer - the footer usually servers as a general disclaimer area in small font below a colored line. The line color is the same as the primary brand color but can be customized.
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