Ask two vendors to pre-underwrite the same loan and their completion times may describe different deliverables. One clock may stop when an analysis is generated. Another may include document preparation. Neither time tells you, by itself, whether the lender can approve the file.
Before comparing speed, agree on what your team receives when the review ends. A useful pre-underwriting handoff identifies the evidence reviewed, the gaps still open and the decisions that remain with the lender. Your processor should be able to use that handoff without reconstructing the review.
What “review complete” should tell your team
Use a sample file to define the deliverable with the provider. The following is an illustrative evaluation aid, not a screenshot or specification of a Clara report.
Review scope: The review used the application and document package available when the instruction was received. It considered the lender instructions supplied for that assignment. Record which material was unavailable rather than treating an absent document as a completed check.
Completed checks: The statement pages in the package were checked for the borrower, account and period. Any result should point to the evidence behind it. An item cannot be described as checked merely because a document with a plausible filename exists.
Open documentation: The statement says it contains four pages, but the package contains three. The missing page remains outstanding. Record whether a request has been sent or whether someone must authorize that request.
Question for review: A deposit requires further explanation under the applicable instructions. Keep the question and its supporting evidence visible. Do not turn it into a conclusion that the funds are either acceptable or unacceptable.
Submission state: Identify what has been assembled and what still needs action before the team submits. A completed pre-underwriting review can legitimately contain unresolved findings. Your team needs those findings stated plainly, with the next action assigned.
That last distinction prevents a common misunderstanding: finishing the review and finishing all work discovered by the review are separate events.
Put a boundary around each turnaround claim
Start with the provider’s definition, then write down the start and end events in your own evaluation record. Receiving an instruction, receiving a complete package and receiving the final missing document are different starting points.
Check the endpoint just as closely. A report generated, a processor review completed and a package submitted to the lender are different outcomes. If one service includes document follow-up and another ends at the report, compare the remaining work as well as the elapsed time.
Loandock reports average pre-underwriting turnaround of under 24 hours, measured from receiving the instruction to completing pre-underwriting. That figure is not a lender approval promise. It also does not mean every outstanding borrower or third-party document will arrive within that period.
For your evaluation, retain the instruction time and actual review completion time. Separately record any remaining document work and when it finishes. This gives your operations team a usable answer to “what is still on our desk?” without changing the meaning of the turnaround metric.
Decide what happens after the review
An open finding needs a route forward. Some findings lead to a document request; others require your processor to resolve a question with the lender. The provider’s service scope should make clear which follow-up it performs and which actions stay with your team.
Clara pre-underwrites before lender submission and performs document collection and follow-up within the agreed workflow. It checks returned documents, asks for corrections when needed and files accepted responses. Questions requiring judgment go to your processor with the supporting documents. The lender’s requirements, AUS findings and underwriter remain authoritative.
The document-correction article follows that later request-and-response work in detail. During a pre-underwriting walkthrough, ask instead to see the completed review alongside its outstanding findings. Book a walkthrough to discuss the review and follow-up your team needs.
