UW prep & submission
Compliance scrub; submit to underwriting.
Overview
Once file setup is done and the borrower's documents are in, Danielle packages the file and submits it to underwriting. This is the last back-office step before the file leaves for a UW decision — the goal is a clean, complete, organized package that comes back approved with as few conditions as possible.
The compliance scrub
Before submission, Danielle does a quick organization pass over the full file — confirming everything is present, current, and in order. This is a lighter check than it once was, by design: Hunter's Pre-Underwriting Review already caught the document-level issues (missing pages, stale paystubs, ID problems, asset gaps) on the borrower-facing side. Danielle isn't re-doing Pre-W; she's confirming the assembled package is complete and ready to submit.
If Pre-W was done well, this is fast. If something slipped through, this is the last catch before underwriting sees it.
Submitting to underwriting
The submission is a manual package-and-upload:
- Download all documents from Arive — the full file.
- Assemble the PDF package and upload it to the lender portal for submission.
- Update Arive to reflect Submitted to UW.
Scribe walkthrough pending — downloading the Arive doc set and building the submission package.
Update the Arive milestone to Underwriting Submitted. Same discipline as every other milestone in this playbook — the internal pipeline tools key off it. In the pipeline queue, marking the "Submit file to underwriting" task done is what moves this file out of Danielle's New Files queue, so the milestone and the task completion need to reflect reality. A file submitted to UW but still showing an earlier milestone is a file the system thinks is still sitting in processing.
What happens next
The file is with underwriting. What comes back — almost always — is an Approved with Conditions decision: the underwriter approves the loan subject to a list of conditions that have to be cleared. That kicks off the next phase, where the conditions get split between Hunter (borrower-facing) and Danielle (back-office) and worked until the file is clear to close.
While the file is in UW review, there's nothing for Danielle to actively do on it — the file sits in underwriting's hands. Inbound items that arrive during this window (title work, the appraisal, HOI binder) get handled email-first and uploaded to Arive as they come in.
Common pitfalls
Submitting an incomplete package
A package missing documents comes back with conditions that are really just "you forgot to include X" — avoidable rework that adds a full UW cycle. The scrub exists to prevent this.
Forgetting the milestone update
Submitted to UW but milestone unchanged means the file looks stuck in processing to everyone watching the pipeline, and it doesn't leave Danielle's queue.
Disorganized package
An underwriter who has to hunt for documents in a messy package works slower and asks more questions. Clean, ordered submissions get cleaner, faster decisions.
Who to ask if you're stuck
Lender portal submission issues: the lender's account executive, or Bryce.
Whether the file is truly ready to submit (borderline completeness): Bryce or Dean.
A borrower-facing gap discovered at scrub: route to Hunter to resolve before submitting.