Knowledge Base

The FEMA Disaster Search tool, available in Lender Toolkit’s PowerTools™, streamlines disaster verification by automatically retrieving information from FEMA’s official website. Using the loan’s ZIP Code, the tool checks for any property-related disasters declared within the past six months and generates a PDF report that is uploaded to the eFolder for documentation.

To turn this tool on:

1. Log in to Encompass® as a Super Admin.

2. Open LTK PowerTools™ from the Encompass® menu and click Settings.

3. Go to the PowerTools™ Free tab.

4. Turn on FEMA Disaster Search by clicking On.

Note: After activation of the Tool, be sure to wait for the prompt stating that the download is complete prior to continuing.

5. Ensure a license number populated and restart Encompass®.

Administrators can customize how and when the plugin runs:

• Run Each Time on Loan Open: Automatically executes when a loan is opened.
  
• Stop Running After This Milestone: Disables the plugin after a specified milestone, overriding auto-run settings.
  

Additional settings are available on the input form and can be updated by a Super Admin:

• Print PDF: Determines whether the FEMA report is uploaded to the eFolder.
  
• eFolder Document Name: Allows customization of the uploaded document’s name.
  

There are three ways to run the plugin:

1. Automatic Run: Runs when the loan is opened if Run Each Time On Loan Open is enabled.
   
2. Manual Run: Select the Run Search checkbox to initiate a manual search.  This overrides all other settings.
   
3. Create a field trigger rule to set the custom field [CX.FEMA.TRIGGER ] to “X” to trigger the search.
   

• The plugin will not run if the loan hasn’t been saved (e.g., new Loan)
  
• It runs automatically the first time if the field [CX.FEMA.LAST.RUN] is empty.
  
• Zip Code is a required field.
  
• The plugin sends a request to FEMA using:
  
• ZIP Code [15]
  
• Declaration Type = DR
  
• Filters for disasters within the last 6 months or with no end date.
  

 The plugin retrieves up to 5 disaster records and populates custom fields with:

• Disaster Number
  
• Declaration Type & Title
  
• Declaration, Incident Start & End Dates
  
• Incident Type
  
• Individual Assistance & Household Programs
  

A Lender Section (in the dotted border) allows for Comments, Overrides, and Resolution Dates. A PDF is generated and put in the eFolder.  Only the last generated pdf is marked as Current.

If FEMA data can’t be retrieved, an error message will display with details.

• Custom Form: LTK – FEMA Disaster Search
  
• Codebase Assemblies: None
  
• Custom Data Objects: None
  
• Plugins: LTK-FEMAPlugin
  

FEMA - Custom Fields.xls