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Communication Portal

Brief Description​

The communication portal is a place where you can easily see conversations with your clients (buyers). You can send them texts, pictures, and even make a call from the portal. Additionally, Lendiom will not send any automated messages or emails until you have the communication portal enabled.

The Why​

Starting from October 1, 2022, businesses need to register their brands and campaigns for the phone numbers they use. This rule applies to regular phone numbers. You can find more information about this on CTIA's Fighting Spam Page. Previously, Lendiom used the same phone number for everything, but now each business/brand needs to register separately according to the CTIA's requirements.

The What​

What does this mean for you and your business? At Lendiom, we want to make this process smooth for you. We are working with our messaging service provider to ensure that we follow the rules and that you, as our customer, also comply.

First, let's understand some definitions:

  • Brand: Information about your business. Your business is your brand.
  • Campaign: How you will be using the phone number.
  • Use case: The specific details of how you use the phone number within the campaign.
  • 10DLC: 10 digit long code, like a regular phone number.
  • A2P: Application-to-Person; it means software or apps sending messages to individuals.
  • CTIA: Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. It's an organization that handles registration.

The How​

When you go to the new Communications page, you will see a simple information page with a link to this page. Clicking on Set Up will take you through a three-step process.

  1. Brand registration
  2. Campaign registration
  3. Number search & purchase

Brand Registration​

As your brand is your business, the CTIA requires detailed legal information. We already have most of this information in Lendiom, but we need you to confirm and update any missing or incorrect information. For example, if you registered your business name in Lendiom without the LLC suffix, you need to add it in the Legal Name input.

The following are the details we require:

  • Business Type: Sole Proprietor or Private Company (for profit)
  • Business Structure: Sole Proprietor, LLC, C-Corp, etc.
  • Brand Name: The name you use for your business (DBA).
  • Legal Name: The full legal name of your business (ex: Wilkinson Properties LLC).
  • Business EIN: Employer Identification Number; not required for Sole Proprietors.
  • Your Full Name: The person who is registering.
  • Business Number: Your current business phone number, in case we have any questions.
  • Your mobile number: Only for Sole Proprietors, it will be used for verification.
  • Business Email: The email address for your business.
  • Business Legal Address: It must not be a PO Box; we fill this in from the billing address.

The brand approval process can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Until the brand gets approved, you will not be able to move forward. We will provide an in-app notification and an email when the brand is approved.

Campaign Registration​

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The TCR is currently backed up on Campaign registrations. As such, we have disabled self-service registration and are working on a solution. We will update this page when we have more information.

Until then, please contact support if you wish to have your campaign registered. It is a manual process and can take up to 8 weeks.

After you submit your brand information, and it gets approved, it's time to register your campaign. There is a lot of information on the campaign registration page, but it's all read-only because we have already done most of the work for you. The CTIA requires specific information about how you will use the phone number. Since Lendiom uses the 10DLC for Application-to-Person messaging, it's important to provide correct campaign data to avoid delays. Currently, the approval process takes up to 8 weeks!

Lendiom will submit the following campaign information on your behalf:

  • Use Case: Low Volume Mixed
  • Sub Use Cases: Account Notifications, Marketing, Security Alerts
  • Samples: Examples of messages Lendiom sends out
  • Opt Out/In: How end users can choose to stop or receive messages again

Number Purchasing​

After clicking Register Campaign, Lendiom will send the campaign information, and you will be directed to the phone number search page.

You have a few options to search for a number, either by number or locality. We default to number so you can search for a vanity number. The fields are:

  • Number Contains: Enter a number or letters (minimum of 3 and maximum of 7).
  • Area Code: Choose the area code you want for the number (must be 3 numbers).
  • State: Use the two-letter abbreviation for the state.
  • Zip Code: Enter the postal zip code of the number; not all zip codes have available numbers.

After clicking search, if there are any available numbers, you will see numbers that match your search. Feel free to change your search criteria to find something specific. Once you find the number you want, click the Select button, and you will be guided through the process of purchasing the number.

Now you are ready to use the messaging system!

Approval Process​

As mentioned earlier, the approval process can take up to 8 weeks. In some cases, it may take less time.

While waiting for approval, any messages you send will incur additional fees from carriers. Unfortunately, there is no way to know the status of your campaign without contacting support. We need to work with our provider manually to check the status. So, please contact us, and we will reach out to our provider to provide you with an update.

Automated Messaging​

Automated messages will only be sent if:

  1. The Communication Portal is enabled.
  2. The client has opted in to receive text messages.
  3. The loan has automated messaging enabled.

The Cost​

The entire campaign process incurs costs. Here are our prices as of November 11th, 2024. We will keep this pricing page up to date. If you believe there's an error, please contact support and let us know!

  • Communication Portal: $7.50 per month
  • Brand Registration: $10 one-time charge
  • Campaign Registration: $25 one-time charge
  • Brand Vetting Fee: $50 one-time charge (ideally shouldn't happen, but sometimes it does)
  • SMS: $0.015 per message segment (first 250 are included)
  • MMS: $0.03 per message segment
  • Calls: $0.02 per minute (first 120 are included)

Carrier Fees​

Each carrier charges its own fee in addition to the above. These fees can change frequently, so we cannot list them in this documentation. If you want to know the current carrier fee pricing, please contact support, and we will provide you with the most up-to-date information.

Contract Verbiage​

The CTIA has specific rules about "automatic opt-in." If you opt buyers into messages, you must have their consent. Your contract or Terms and Conditions should not have any hidden clauses. You need the buyer to initial under the paragraph describing Lendiom Communication and that they will be opted into messaging. The following is an example, and it is NOT legal advice!

Lendiom. Buyer(s) understand and agree that Lendiom may process this contract, including their personal information, to provide services, improve products, and comply with applicable laws and regulations. Personal information includes, but is not limited to, name, mailing address, Social Security Number, and phone number.

Lendiom Communication. By initializing below, Buyer(s) opt-in to receive text messages, or emails, for password-less two-factor authentication login flow, payment reminders, or payment status updates. The Buyer(s) can withdraw their consent at any time by contacting the Seller as set forth in paragraph 15 or by sending STOP to the number.

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Please consult your attorney as the example above is NOT legal advice. It is only an example. The important requirement is that the buyer must initial and make it clear that they are opting in to messages from Lendiom.

Message Samples​

Below are several samples of messages we send out.

  • Hi Sabryna, this is My Land Co. Friendly reminder: your payment of $250.25 for Land Estates Tract 2 is due today and auto pay is on. Access your account at: https://go.lendiom.com/pay/36e2459

  • Hey Sabryna, this is My Land Co. Your payment of $250.25 for Land Estates Tract 2 is due on Jan 1st 2024. Access your account at: https://go.lendiom.com/pay/36g2459

  • Sabryna, this is My Land Co. The $250.25 payment successfully posted to Land Estates Tract 2. Next payment is due on Feb 1st 2024.

  • My Land Co here, Sabryna Dooley. Your payment of $250.25 for Land Estates Tract 2 was due on Dec 1st 2023 and is now late. The total you owe, including late fees, is $285.25. Access your account at: https://go.lendiom.com/pay/36g2459

Automated Dates​

When you have automated messages enabled, they are sent according to the following schedule. At the moment, this is not configurable and is hard coded. We do have plans for customizing it but no date is set.

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These are only sent if you are fully registered in the communication portal AND the loan has automated messages enabled.

  • Due today: on the date of a payment being due
  • Late notice: the day a late fee is applied (depends on your late fee config)
  • Upcoming: seven days before the due date
  • Property tax due: the date the property tax is due
  • Payment status updates: when they happen

Misc Information​

SMS Segments​

SMS messages may seem simple, but there are some complex details due to character encoding. We'll provide a summary here, but if you want more detailed information, you can visit Wikipedia (click here). To see segments in action, you can use this visual calculator (https://twiliodeved.github.io/message-segment-calculator/).

When a SMS message with more than 160 characters is sent, the message gets split into smaller messages for sending. Large messages are divided into 153-character "segments" and sent individually, then reassembled by the recipient's device. Each segment can have a maximum of 153 characters because a data header is included with each segment to ensure correct reassembly.