Manage Rate Changes with Integrated Finance

Summary

As the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, solar financing partners are adjusting their loan offerings, which often includes updated interest rates, dealer fees, or even suspending certain loan products. OpenSolar makes it easy to respond to these changes using the Refresh feature on your Payment Options page. This article covers how to:

• Use the Refresh feature

• Understand automatic replacement strategies

• Customize loan replacements manually

• Maintain up-to-date financing options in your proposals

Adapting to Market Rate Changes in OpenSolar

When the Fed raises rates, solar finance partners often:

• Increase dealer fees

• Adjust interest rates

• Suspend certain loan products (e.g. 30-year 0.99% loans)

To ensure a seamless experience for your customers, OpenSolar helps you keep your proposals aligned with the most current product lineup from lenders.

Quick Action: Use the Refresh Feature

If your customer has not yet applied for financing, and you want to ensure they receive the latest loan terms, use the Refresh function.

To do this:

1. Go to Control > Payment Options

2. Click “Refresh” under the lender logo

This updates your projects with the most current loan products from that lender.

OpenSolar’s Smart Replacement Strategies

When a loan product is no longer available, OpenSolar automatically replaces it using one of three strategies:

Strategy 1: Closest Interest Rate with Same Term (Default)

Replaces the suspended loan with one from the same lender that has:

• The same term, and

• The closest interest rate available

Strategy 2: Closest Dealer Fee with Same Term

Replaces the product with:

• The same term, and

• The closest dealer fee

Strategy 3: Minimize Dealer Fee Change

Replaces the product with one that has the closest dealer fee overall, regardless of loan term.

To change strategies:

1. Click “Manage Rate Changes” under the Refresh button.

2. Select the strategy you prefer.

Manual Control: Bulk Update Projects

Want to assign loan products manually, project-by-project?

Use the “Bulk Update Projects (Beta)” button at the top of the Payment Options page. This allows:

• Manual mapping of payment options per project

• Greater control over pricing and proposal presentation

Replacing a Specific Loan Product

If you'd like to specify which product replaces a discontinued one:

Follow These Steps:

1. On the Payment Options page, click “Show Archived.”

2. Locate the archived loan product and click the pencil icon

3. Toggle on Advanced Settings

4. Under Payment Option Replacement, choose the new product you’d like to assign

This will automatically replace the old product for any project that previously used it.

What’s Required vs. Optional?

• Required: Click “Refresh” to keep rates up to date.

• Optional: Customize strategies or manually reassign loan products.

Video walkthrough: