Closing Portal: Settlement Agent Guide

Description:

The redesigned Closing Portal gives settlement agents one place to see every loan they are working, know what needs attention, and complete each closing from document download to trailing docs. This article walks you through the new portal, including how to read loan statuses, download documents, review lender changes, upload signed and trailing documents, and monitor signing progress.

What's new compared to the classic portal:

• A Loans table instead of file cards. Every loan appears as one row with a status that tells you the next step. Loans are split into Active and Post-Closing tabs, and you can filter by lender, status, and closing type.
• Everything for a loan in one view. If a lender sends more than one closing package for a loan, the loan page, the Download panel, and the Documents tab cover all of them together, so you never miss an earlier package that still needs action.
• Your own download history. The portal tracks what you have downloaded and labels documents as New, Updated, or Downloaded. Each settlement agent sees statuses based on their own activity.
• Prepare, release, and download from one card. The Closing Package card on each loan walks you through preparing eSign documents, releasing them, and downloading your package.
• Signer reminders. You can send reminders directly from the loan page.

Steps to resolve: 

Getting started:

When you sign in to the Closing Portal, you land on the Loans page. Depending on how the portal is rolled out for you, you will see one of the following:

• The new portal opens automatically. No action is needed.
• A banner on the classic Files page invites you to try the new portal. Select Try it Out to switch. Your choice is remembered on that browser for one year. You can also dismiss the banner if you are not ready to switch.
• A "Switch Back" banner on the new Loans page. If you opted in, you can return to the classic portal at any time by selecting Switch Back.

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Note: Your opt-in choice is saved per browser. If you use a different computer or browser, you may need to opt in again.

The Loans page:

The Loans page lists every loan you have been assigned to, one row per loan, with the loan that most recently received a closing package at the top.

1. Use the Active and Post-Closing tabs to switch between loans.
   • Active: loans that have not closed yet, or that closed within the last 90 days.
   • Post-Closing: loans whose actual closing date was 90 or more days ago. A loan moves to Post-Closing based only on its actual closing date, not on recent activity.
2. Search by loan number, file number, borrower name, or property address.
   • File number must be entered in full and exactly as it appears, without the # symbol. A partial file number returns no results.
   • Loan number, borrower, and address match from the beginning, so you can type the first few characters.
3. Use the filters to narrow the list by lender, status, or closing type.
   • The file number shown is your title company's reference number. If none has been entered, the loan number is shown instead.
4. Select a loan row to open it. Each loan has three tabs: Overview, Documents, and Contacts. Selecting Home in the breadcrumb returns you to the tab (Active or Post-Closing) you came from.

Loan statuses:

Each loan shows a single status that tells you the most important next step. The same status drives the Closing Package card on the loan's Overview, so the two always agree. Statuses reflect every active closing package on the loan and only your own downloads.

The table lists statuses in the order a loan usually moves through them. Not every loan uses every status; for example, eSign and RON steps appear only when the closing includes them.

If a loan shows no status, it does not currently have an active closing package.

Working a loan: Overview tab:

The Overview tab shows the loan details, the Closing Package card, the RON card (for remote online notarizations), signing status, and any alerts. The Closing Package card guides you through three stages, in this order.

1. Prepare. If eSign documents need preparing, select Prepare eSign Documents. If more than one package needs preparing, you'll be asked to choose a package first.
2. Release. If your lender requires you to release eSign documents to signers, select Release eSign Documents once preparation is done. If you need to make changes after preparing, select Update. If more than one package is waiting, you'll choose which to release; packages you've already released are shown too.
3. Download. Once nothing is left to prepare or release, the card shows your download status:
   • Ready for download shows how many documents are waiting, for example "4 Agent only documents · 6 wet documents."
   • Changed documents appears when the lender has sent changes since your last download, with a count of new, updated, and deleted documents and a See What Changed link.

   • When you're up to date, the card shows a check mark and the date you downloaded. You can still download again at any time.

     Prepare stage: the card is ready for eSign document preparation.

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     When more than one package needs preparing, choose a package from the panel.

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     Release stage: review the documents, then select Release eSign Documents.

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     Download stage: the card shows how many documents are ready.

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     After the lender sends changes, the card shows a count and a See What Changed link.

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The card also shows Sent on, the date the latest closing package was sent, and Updated on, which appears once the lender has re-sent documents.

Alerts you may see:

• A package failed to generate. The newest package from the lender didn't finish generating, so the documents you see come from an earlier package. Contact the lender before closing.
• Trailing documents. After the closing date, if your lender accepts trailing documents, an alert reminds you that you can upload them.
• The alert shown when the lender's newest package didn't generate.

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Downloading documents:

You can download from the Closing Package card on the Overview tab (recommended), or pick individual documents on the Documents tab.

From the Overview (recommended):

1. Select Download on the Closing Package card. The Download panel opens, where documents are grouped by category:

   Category	What it contains
   Agent only	Documents meant only for the settlement agent
   Wet	Documents to be signed in ink at closing
   eSign	Documents borrowers sign electronically
   RON	Documents for a remote online notarization
   eNote	The electronic promissory note

2. The Download panel on a first download, with Agent only and Wet selected.
   
3. Only categories with documents available on the loan are shown.
   • First download: Agent only and Wet are selected for you.
   • Later downloads: only categories that changed since your last download are selected. Categories that changed are marked "changed since download."
   • eSign, RON, and eNote are never preselected, and you'll see a warning if you select them, because those documents are normally handled electronically. Printing electronic documents may result in duplicate signatures. Only print them if the borrower cannot eSign at closing.
   • Selecting eSign or RON documents shows a warning, since printing them may cause duplicate signatures.
     
4. Select Download. The download combines documents from every active package on the loan into one file. If the same document appears on more than one package, you get only the newest version.

Downloading from the Overview also moves your tasks forward, such as marking documents as viewed, so the loan's status updates.

From the Documents tab:

1. Select the documents you want and choose Download or View. You can select documents from different packages at once, and you'll get exactly what you selected. You'll be asked to confirm before downloading eSign documents.
2. Downloads from the Documents tab update each document's status, but they don't move your tasks forward. To advance the loan, download from the Overview.
3. Depending on your lender's settings, eSign documents may be hidden from settlement agents on eClosing packages.

The Documents tab:

The Documents tab lists every document on the loan across all active closing packages, split into three views.

The Package view, with each document's package and status.


Document statuses:

Statuses are personal. If two settlement agents work the same loan, each sees statuses based on their own downloads.

Documents can't be deleted from the portal. If an upload needs to be removed, contact the lender.

When the lender sends changes:

When a lender re-sends documents after you've downloaded, the loan's status changes to Package Updated and the Closing Package card shows Changed documents with a count.

1. On the Overview, select See What Changed. This opens the Changed view of the Documents tab.
2. Review the documents listed. Each shows whether it's New (you've never downloaded it) or Updated (you downloaded an earlier version), and which package held the previous version.
3. Select Download on the Closing Package card. Only the categories that changed are preselected.
4. The Changed view lists each changed document with its previous and current package.
   

Things to know:

• Deleted documents are counted on the card but aren't listed in the Changed view, because they're no longer part of the package.
• Documents from the loan's first package are never marked as changed, even if you haven't downloaded them yet. They simply show as New.
• A document can show as changed even if it looks the same. Any document the lender re-sends counts as a new version, whether or not its contents changed.

Uploading signed and trailing documents:

1. Use the Upload button on the Overview or the Documents tab. Both send your files to the same place.
    

   
    

   • Signed wet documents: If you have an open wet-sign upload task, your upload is delivered to the newest package with that task and matched to the expected documents. This completes your wet-sign step.
   • Trailing documents: If there's no open wet-sign task, your upload is delivered as a trailing document. It reaches the lender but isn't matched to specific expected documents.
2. If neither option applies to the loan, the Upload button isn't shown.
3. After you upload, each file is processed in the background. Check its progress in the Uploaded view of the Documents tab, which updates automatically when processing finishes.
4. The Uploaded view shows each upload and its status.
   

Remote online notarization and signing status:

RON card:

If the loan closes with a remote online notarization (RON), a RON card appears on the Overview and walks you through setup step by step. The steps are:

1. Review and prepare the RON documents.
2. Add notary instructions. This step opens automatically after you prepare the RON documents.
3. Schedule a time (optional).

Select Submit when you've finished all steps.

Signing status:

The Overview lists each signer, including borrowers and any third-party signers. A signer shows as complete only once they've finished everything assigned to them.

To nudge a borrower who hasn't finished signing, select Send Reminder. The date of the most recent reminder appears as "Reminder sent on." Reminder dates for third-party signers aren't shown.

Solution: 

Work each loan from the Overview tab, following the status shown on the Loans page. Download from the Overview so your tasks move forward, review See What Changed whenever the status shows Package Updated, and upload signed wet documents or trailing documents after closing. If you see a failed package alert, a Release for eSign status that does not clear, or a missing Prepare eSign Documents button, contact the lender.

Additional resources: 

Frequently asked questions: