# When we need something from you

What the amber banner means, how to send exactly what was asked for, and why it is the only state that is your move.

Updated: 2026-09-12

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Of everything an application can be doing, one state is yours to act on. It looks like this:

<Shot src="application-needs-you" alt="An application showing an amber banner reading we need something from you, with the specific request underneath, a tracker, and an upload panel." caption="The banner follows you across every screen until it is dealt with." />

## What it means

An underwriter got far enough to know exactly what is missing. The request is specific — a
particular month's statement, a piece of paperwork, a clarification — and it is written on the
application rather than left for you to guess at.

It is not a decline, and it is not a reset. The file carries on from where it was the moment the
thing arrives. If the application was already approved, it stays approved: the approved amount
stays on your screen while we wait.

## Sending what was asked for

The upload panel is on the same page as the request. Choose what the file is from the short list
— bank statements, incorporation documents, or something else — then drag it in or click to
choose. It goes straight to the people reading your file.

Send what was asked for and nothing else. "Everything I have, just in case" is slower to read
and does not answer the question.

<Note>
Bank statements have to be PDFs straight from your bank. Everything else takes a PDF, a photo or
a spreadsheet — see [file types and sizes](/help/file-types-and-sizes).
</Note>

## On the web

A banner sits across the top of every screen while something is outstanding, with **Send it
over** next to it. Following that, or opening the application itself, puts you on the panel that
takes the file.

## In the app

The same request on the application screen, with two ways to answer it: **Send what we asked
for** opens Files, and the button next to it opens your photo library — which is the faster
answer when the thing they want is a piece of paper on your desk, photographed in the Camera app
first.

<Shot src="ios-application" phone alt="The Spark app showing an application that needs something: the amber headline, the request repeated in the documents card, and a Send what we asked for button beside a photo library button." />

## Or just reply to the email

The request also arrives by email, and our emails are not sent from a no-reply address: replying
to one lands back on your file rather than in somebody's personal inbox. If the document is
already an attachment in a thread with your accountant, forwarding it to us that way is a
perfectly good answer. See [the emails we send you](/help/the-emails-we-send).

## If you cannot find it

Call. A request that has you hunting through a filing cabinet for an afternoon is usually a
request somebody can narrow down in a two-minute conversation, and occasionally one we can
satisfy another way. The number and the hours are on the [support page](/support).