The short version
- A credit application link lets the buyer apply from their phone, before or after they visit.
- The application collects three separate consents, including permission to pull their credit report.
- Buyers can fill it in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole or Russian.
- Documents, e-signatures and payments can all happen without a trip back to the lot.
Sending the credit application
Send the buyer a secure link by email or WhatsApp, or copy it into your own message. The link works for 14 days and you can withdraw it any time. The buyer picks their language on the first screen: English, Spanish, Haitian Creole or Russian.
The application walks them through who they are, where they've lived and worked, their income, monthly bills, credit history, references and any trade-in. A co-buyer, who goes on the title, and a co-signer, who only guarantees the loan, can each fill in their own part.
The consents it collects
- Agreement to complete the application electronically.
- The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (opens the official site in a new tab) notice about income.
- Authorization for the dealership, and any lender it works with, to obtain their credit report.
Each consent is recorded with its own time stamp.
Documents without a trip back
Ask for exactly what the deal needs: the front and back of their driver license, a selfie holding the license, the insurance card, proof of residence, the trade-in's title, registration or payoff, or a power of attorney. The buyer photographs them on their phone and they land on the deal, labeled.
You can also ask for documents on their own, without a credit application. That link works for 7 days.
Protecting what they send
- Social Security numbers are stored encrypted and masked on the lender packet. Seeing the full number takes a permission, and every time is logged.
- Only a signed application can be shared with a lender. Drafts print with a watermark.
- You get an email when the buyer first opens the application and when they submit it.
Signing and paying remotely
Contracts and forms can go out for e-signature by email. Nobody needs a DocuSign account, everyone can sign in any order, and you can see who has opened and signed.
A payment link lets the buyer pay a deposit or down payment by card or bank account, and a receipt is emailed to them automatically.
The one form to plan a notary for is the DR-123 (opens the official site in a new tab), the partial sales tax exemption for a buyer from another state; an e-signature doesn't cover it. See the paperwork behind a Florida sale.
How My Dealer Jacket handles it
My Dealer Jacket sends the credit application, the document request, the e-signature request and the payment link from the same deal, and everything the buyer sends lands on it.
Sources
Each one links to the official text.
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B): notice to credit applicants (opens the official site in a new tab)
- How My Dealer Jacket's credit application, document requests, e-signing and payment links work
This guide explains Florida's rules in plain language. It isn't legal advice, and rules change: check with FLHSMV or your attorney before relying on it.