The short answer: connect your Gmail or Outlook to alfred_, add your phone number, and tell it once: “Text me when an underwriter emails conditions or an approval on one of my loans.” From then on, each matching email sends you a text with what the underwriter asked for, and the rest of your inbox stays quiet. Reply or forward by text; nothing sends until you say send.
The conditions that sat until morning
You’re a processor at a small mortgage brokerage with 30 loans in flight. The Parker purchase closes in nine days. At 3:40 PM the underwriter emails conditional approval with six conditions: two months of statements for the second checking account, an explanation for a large deposit, an updated pay stub, and three things the title company needs to send.
You’re on the phone with another borrower, then in a closing. You see the email at 5:50. The borrower has left work, the title company has closed, and the clock you had at 3:40 is now a day shorter.
The native ways, and where they stop
The LOS. Your loan origination system tracks conditions once they’re posted there. The underwriter’s email often arrives before anyone has posted them, and the LOS doesn’t text you about an email.
Mail app notifications. You can narrow them: Gmail on Android notifies for a label you choose, the Outlook app for Favorite People, iPhone Mail for VIPs. They match the sender, so the underwriter’s “received, reviewing” buzzes just like the conditions.
Watching the loan file. Works between calls. The conditions often land while you’re on one.
Set up the rule
- Connect the inbox lenders write to. Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- Add your phone number and text alfred_ once from that phone. That turns texting on.
- Say the rule, by text or in the app: “Text me when an underwriter emails conditions or an approval on one of my loans.”
- alfred_ repeats the rule back. Check it, and it’s saved.
Your rules are listed in Settings, Rules. See Email rules.
What the text looks like
alfred_: Harbor Lending (underwriting) sent conditional approval on Parker, 14 Elm Ct, with 6 conditions: two months of statements for the second checking account, a letter explaining the Sept 12 deposit, the latest pay stub for Jordan, and title items: payoff, survey, insured closing letter.
You: ask the parkers for the 2 statements, the deposit letter and jordan’s pay stub. say we need them by thursday
alfred_: Here’s the email to Jordan and Kate Parker: “Hi Jordan and Kate, good news: the loan is conditionally approved. To clear the last items, we need two months of statements for your second checking account, a short letter explaining the September 12 deposit, and Jordan’s latest pay stub, by Thursday if you can. Thank you!” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The borrowers, lender and property are invented.
Where each step happens
- Anywhere: the text arrives in iMessage on iPhone, or RCS or SMS on Android.
- Answering: text what to send and to whom. “send” or “yes” sends it; anything else changes it first.
- Desktop: rules live in Settings, Rules. The full underwriter email is in your inbox as usual.
The honest caveat
alfred_ reads the inboxes you connect, not your LOS, so conditions that only exist in the system aren’t seen. A rule is judged on meaning, so check the first few texts and tighten the rule if it’s too broad. It doesn’t contact borrowers on its own: every email goes when you say send. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
