This document covers the Client Qualification feature in Broki — a tool that gives clients a live, interactive GDS/TDS calculator in their portal so they can explore different property tax, strata fee, down payment, and purchase price scenarios without needing to call or email you every time.
Sections Covered
1. What the Client Qualification Feature Is
2. Who Should Use It — Choosing the Right Clients
3. How the GDS/TDS Logic Works
4. Insured vs. Conventional — Different Thresholds
5. Configuring Client Qualification in the File
6. Input Fields You Control (Broker Side)
7. What the Client Can Adjust (Portal Side)
8. Notifying the Client
9. Removing Client Qualification from the Portal
10. Upcoming — Import from Assessment & Push to Velocity
11. Quick Reference — Where Is That Button?
1. What the Client Qualification Feature Is
Client Qualification is an interactive tool in the client portal that lets clients adjust certain variables and instantly see how those adjustments affect their GDS and TDS ratios. It is designed to reduce the back-and-forth that happens when a client is actively shopping for a home and wants to check whether a specific property — with its specific property taxes and strata fees — fits within their qualification.
What the broker controls | Income, qualifying payment, stress-tested rate, approved rate, amortization, monthly liabilities, other properties, heat, and base property tax and strata fee amounts. These are set on your side and the client cannot change them. |
What the client controls | Property tax, strata fees, down payment, and purchase price. These four inputs are the variables the client can adjust in real time. |
GDS/TDS display | The client sees their GDS and TDS ratios update live as they adjust their inputs — with clear visual indicators when they exceed qualifying thresholds. |
Portal visibility | This tab does not appear in the client portal unless you explicitly add it for a specific client. You choose who gets access. |
2. Who Should Use It — Choosing the Right Clients
You do not need to give this tool to every client. It is most valuable for clients who are actively house-hunting and are tech-savvy or analytical — people who want to run their own numbers rather than call you every time they look at a new listing.
Best fit: active house hunters who are looking at multiple properties and want to self-serve on 'does this one work?'
Best fit: analytical clients who enjoy understanding the numbers and want transparency into how qualification works.
Not necessary for: clients who are not yet actively shopping, clients who prefer to just ask you, or files where the qualification situation is complex or nuanced.
Because the tab only appears if you add it, you have full control. Add it when it makes sense for the client — leave it out when it would cause more confusion than clarity.
3. How the GDS/TDS Logic Works
The GDS (Gross Debt Service) and TDS (Total Debt Service) ratios are calculated in real time based on the inputs you set and the variables the client adjusts.
GDS accounts for housing costs — mortgage payment, property taxes, strata fees, heat.
TDS accounts for all debts — everything in GDS plus monthly liabilities.
As the client adjusts property taxes, strata fees, down payment, or purchase price, the ratios update immediately.
Visual indicators show the client whether they are within qualifying thresholds or not.
GDS threshold | 39% — the maximum GDS ratio for qualification. |
TDS threshold | 44% — the maximum TDS ratio for qualification. |
Over threshold — insured | The tool shows Does Not Qualify if GDS or TDS exceeds the threshold for insured mortgages (less than 20% down). |
Over threshold — conventional | The tool shows Check With Your Broker if GDS or TDS exceeds the threshold for conventional mortgages (20%+ down). This is intentional — lenders can sometimes grant exceptions above the ratios on conventional files. |
Hard stop — conventional | Once ratios reach approximately 50% on a conventional file, the tool changes to Does Not Qualify. |
The Check With Your Broker threshold on conventional files is deliberate. You may have already told a client they can go slightly above the standard ratios — showing Does Not Qualify immediately would contradict your advice and confuse the client.
4. Insured vs. Conventional — Different Thresholds
The qualification thresholds displayed to the client change based on their down payment:
Less than 20% down (insured): the tool enforces strict 39/44 thresholds and shows Does Not Qualify when exceeded.
20% or more down (conventional): the tool shows Check With Your Broker when thresholds are exceeded, and only shows Does Not Qualify above approximately 50%.
This logic updates automatically as the client adjusts their down payment slider — the threshold behavior changes if they cross the 20% threshold.
5. Configuring Client Qualification in the File
📍 Pipeline → open file → Client Qualification tab (in sidebar navigation)
The Client Qualification tab is inside the mortgage file on the sidebar. It may appear at a different position depending on your navigation preferences.
Fastest way to configure
The easiest approach is to pull the numbers directly from the TDS/GDS section in Velocity or FINMO where you already did the underwriting assessment.
Open the TDS/GDS breakdown in your Velocity or FINMO application.
Copy the total income amount, qualifying payment, stress-tested rate, approved rate, amortization, and monthly liabilities directly into the corresponding fields in Broki.
Add any other property details if applicable (rental offsets, add-backs, etc.).
Enter the subject property details: heat, base property tax, base strata fee, down payment, and purchase price as you assessed them.
Click Save or Update.
This sets the baseline ratios to match your assessment exactly. The client can then adjust from that baseline.
6. Input Fields You Control (Broker Side)
Total income | The qualifying income used in your assessment. |
Qualifying payment | The mortgage payment used in the GDS/TDS calculation. |
Stress-tested rate | The rate used for stress testing. |
Approved rate | The actual rate the client is approved at. |
Amortization | The amortization period. |
Monthly liabilities | All monthly debt obligations included in TDS (car payments, credit cards, etc.). |
Other properties | Any additional properties with rental offsets or add-backs — most files will not need this. |
Heat | Monthly heating costs used in GDS. |
Base property tax | The property tax amount used in your original assessment — the client adjusts from this baseline. |
Base strata fee | The strata fee used in your original assessment — the client adjusts from this baseline. |
Down payment | The down payment used in your assessment — client can adjust. |
Purchase price | The purchase price used in your assessment — client can adjust. |
7. What the Client Can Adjust (Portal Side)
In their portal, clients see a clean interactive layout. They can only adjust these four variables — everything else is locked:
Property tax | Adjust up or down from the baseline you set to match a specific property they are looking at. |
Strata fees | Adjust up or down — particularly relevant for condo purchases where strata fees vary significantly. |
Down payment | Adjust the down payment amount. Crossing the 20% threshold changes the GDS/TDS threshold behavior. |
Purchase price | Adjust the purchase price to see how different price points affect their ratios. |
The GDS and TDS ratios update live with each adjustment. The client can clearly see when they are within their qualification range and when they are pushing into Does Not Qualify or Check With Your Broker territory.
8. Notifying the Client
After configuring and saving the Client Qualification data, you need to notify the client to let them know the tool is available in their portal.
Click the Notify button on the Client Qualification tab.
A branded notification is generated using your logo and email signature.
Add any additional custom message in the message box if needed.
The standard notification includes your branding, a brief explanation of the tool, and a link to their portal.
Click Send.
⚠ If you update the qualification data after the client has already been notified (e.g. their qualification changes), you must click Save or Update first and then use the Notify button again to send them a fresh notification with the updated numbers.
9. Removing Client Qualification from the Portal
If you want to remove the Client Qualification tab from the client's portal — for example, once they have an accepted offer and no longer need to explore different properties — click the Remove button on the Client Qualification tab.
The tab disappears from their portal immediately.
The data you configured is still saved in the file — you can re-add it at any time.
10. Upcoming — Import from Assessment & Push to Velocity
🔜 COMING SOON: Broki has its own mortgage application tool with a full underwriting section. Once live with a push to Velocity integration, you will be able to do all your underwriting directly in Broki and then use the Import from Assessment button in Client Qualification to automatically pull all the numbers over — no manual entry required. This will replace the current workflow of copying numbers from Velocity or FINMO manually. Until that integration is live, configure the fields manually as described in this document.
11. Quick Reference — Where Is That Button?
Button / Feature | Location | What it does |
Client Qualification tab | Left sidebar inside a mortgage file | Configure the qualification tool for this client's portal |
Income field | Client Qualification tab | Enter the total qualifying income from your assessment |
Qualifying payment | Client Qualification tab | The mortgage payment used in GDS/TDS calculation |
Stress-tested rate | Client Qualification tab | The rate used for stress testing |
Monthly liabilities | Client Qualification tab | All monthly debts included in TDS |
Heat / property tax / strata fee | Client Qualification tab | Subject property expenses — client adjusts from these baselines |
Down payment / purchase price | Client Qualification tab | Baseline values — client can adjust in the portal |
Save / Update | Client Qualification tab | Saves the configuration — must be saved before notifying the client |
Notify button | Client Qualification tab | Sends the client a branded notification that the tool is available in their portal |
Remove button | Client Qualification tab | Removes the Client Qualification tab from the client's portal view |
Import from Assessment (upcoming) | Client Qualification tab | Will auto-populate all fields from the Broki underwriting assessment — currently in development |
GDS display (client portal) | Client portal → My Qualification tab | Live GDS ratio — updates as client adjusts inputs |
TDS display (client portal) | Client portal → My Qualification tab | Live TDS ratio — updates as client adjusts inputs |
Does Not Qualify (client portal) | Client portal — shown when ratios exceeded | Appears when GDS > 39% or TDS > 44% on insured files, or when ratios exceed ~50% on conventional |
Check With Your Broker (client portal) | Client portal — shown on conventional files | Appears when ratios exceed 39/44 on conventional (20%+ down) files — softer warning than Does Not Qualify |