AWC returned — triage the conditions
The processor reads the approval letter, then enters and tracks every condition in Arive.
Overview
The file comes back from underwriting Approved with Conditions — the loan is approved, subject to a list of items that must be satisfied before Clear to Close. This is the normal outcome; a first-pass approval with zero conditions is rare.
Everything in this phase runs off one job at the top: the processor reads the approval letter and works every condition — borrower-facing and back-office alike. Get the list entered and tracked right and the file moves. Miss a condition, or leave one unowned, and it sits while the closing date approaches.
Where conditions live
Two places, and the distinction matters:
- The lender portal is the source of truth. Underwriting posts conditions there. That's the authoritative list, and it's what has to be satisfied to get CTC.
- Arive is the working copy. The processor manually types each condition into the Arive Conditions tab. That's where status gets tracked and documents get attached.
Manual mirroring means the two can drift. If a condition exists in the portal but was never entered in Arive, nobody's working it — and it won't surface until resubmission gets rejected.
The processor's triage
1. Read the approval letter in full
Every condition, start to finish, before working anything. Conditions frequently reference each other, and reading them as a set tells you which ones are actually one item split across two lines.
2. Enter each condition into Arive
Manually, in the Conditions tab. This is data entry with consequences — a condition typed vaguely is a condition someone misinterprets three days later.
3. Categorize
Each condition falls into one of five buckets. The bucket tells you how to work it — the processor owns all of them except decisions only the LO can make:
- Borrower documents → collect from the borrower
- Title → work with the title company
- Appraisal → work with the appraiser / AMC
- Income → the processor collects; route to the LO if it needs an income decision
- LO decision → the LO on the file (structure, program, or qualification calls)
4. Set ownership in Arive
Mark each condition's owner in Arive. Most are the processor's to work. For any condition that needs an LO decision, assign it to the LO — Arive automatically emails the assignee the list of conditions that are theirs. That email is the handoff to the LO.
5. Flip the milestone
The processor manually updates the Arive milestone to Approved w/ Conditions.
Track every condition in Arive — don't work the list from memory. It's tempting to run a short condition list off a sticky note or your head. Don't. Enter every condition in Arive and keep its status current: it's the only record if you're out sick, if the file grows, or if someone else has to pick it up. A condition that lives only in your head is a condition that gets missed — and it won't surface until resubmission is rejected.
The condition status ladder
Every condition in Arive moves through a status progression. Knowing where each one sits is how you know whether the file is ready to go back to underwriting:
- Requested — the condition is entered and the document has been asked for
- Re-requested — what came back didn't satisfy it; asked again
- Collected — the document is in hand, pending review
- Ready to send — reviewed, satisfies the condition, cleared to go back to UW
Every condition must reach "Ready to send" before anything is resubmitted. That's the gate — see the resubmission step.
What happens next
The processor works the conditions across two tracks — borrower-facing collection and back-office items — until all conditions are marked ready to send. Then the processor packages the file and resubmits.
Expect roughly one additional round on a typical file: resubmit, underwriting reviews, a few new or re-requested conditions come back, clear those, resubmit again, then Clear to Close.
Who to ask if you're stuck
A condition you can't interpret or categorize: Bryce or Dean.
A condition that seems wrong or unreasonable: the lender's account executive — sometimes conditions get issued in error.
Income or qualification decisions surfaced by a condition: the LO on the file.