If a funder response isn't updating your submission status or the AI is classifying it incorrectly, run this checklist first before contacting support.

Quick troubleshooting checklist

Check these common causes in order. Most matching and status issues are resolved by one of the first four items.

Check the submission status. AI will not overwrite terminal statuses. If the submission is already Approved, Declined, or Funded, the AI blocks further updates to prevent changing closed deals.
Check the funder's reply domain. Open the funder in Funders and go to the Submission Method tab. If the reply email domain does not match the submission address or the Additional domains list, add it.
Check that the submission has a deal attached. AI matching requires a linked deal. If there is no deal, the workflow stops entirely.
Check the email thread. Forwarded emails or new threads break thread matching. If the thread is broken, the AI falls back to extracting the business name from the email and matching against the deal's legal name or DBA.
Check the AI column checkbox. In the submissions table, look for the AI column checkbox. If it is checked, the submission or offer was already created or updated by AI. If it is not checked, the email was never matched or was classified as Other.
Check IMAP settings. If no funder responses are being picked up at all, verify your IMAP credentials and settings. Wrong IMAP settings prevent the AI from reading any emails.

Why a response didn't match or update

Domain mismatch

The funder replied from a different email domain than the one you submit to. For example, you submit to [email protected] but the funder replies from [email protected].

Fix: Add the reply domain to the funder's Additional domains list:

Go to Funders and open the funder
Navigate to the Submission Method tab
Add the reply domain under Additional domains

These steps apply to any email provider, not only Microsoft accounts.

Submission already resolved

The AI will not overwrite submissions that are already in a terminal status:

Approved and Funded submissions will never be updated by any AI classification
Declined submissions won't be updated if the new email is also classified as Declined or Pending

This is a safety measure to prevent the AI from accidentally changing closed deals.

No deal linked to the submission

The submission must have a deal associated with it. If there is no deal linked, the AI workflow stops entirely and takes no action.

Fix: Make sure every submission has a deal attached before expecting AI processing to work.

Couldn't match to a submission

The AI could not find the right submission via email thread references or business name extraction. This happens when:

The funder's email does not mention the business name
The deal's legal name or DBA does not match what's in the email
The email thread was broken (forwarded, new thread, etc.)

Classified as "Other"

The AI determined the email was irrelevant or not a funder response (for example, marketing emails, out-of-office replies, or unrelated correspondence). These emails receive no action and do not update submissions.

Offer link scraping failed

For approvals that include only an offer link with no financial details in the email body, the system attempts to visit the funder's portal and extract the offer data automatically. If this fails, the offer is still created with the link saved, but financial fields will be blank and require manual entry.

Common reasons for scraping failures:

The offer link expired or requires additional authentication beyond the URL
The funder portal blocks automated access or uses anti-bot protections
The portal page structure is unrecognized or dynamically loads in a way the system cannot read

This does not prevent the offer from being created. Email-based offer data always takes priority; scraping only happens when the email body has no financial details.

How AI email processing works

When a funder emails you back, MCA Pilot's AI processing goes through two stages:

Stage 1: Email matching

The system checks if the sender's email domain matches one of your funders. By default, it matches against the submission email addresses you configured for that funder (the "to" and "cc" addresses). If the domain matches, it tries to find the specific submission by looking at the email thread (reply chain). If it cannot match by thread, it uses AI to extract the business name from the email and searches for matching deals by legal name and DBA, then matches the email to the correct submission for that funder and deal combination.

Stage 2: Classification and action

Once matched, the AI classifies the email and checks whether it should take action based on the submission's current status:

Approved: Extracts offer details (amount, rate, term, frequency, points, fees, link, stips) and creates an offer record, then updates the submission to Approved. Will NOT update if the submission is already Approved or Funded. WILL update if currently Sent, Pending, or Declined.
Declined: Extracts decline reason and updates submission to Declined. Will NOT update if already Approved, Declined, or Funded. WILL update if currently Sent or Pending.
Pending: Extracts requested info/stips, updates submission to Pending, and creates tasks (if enabled). Will NOT update if already Approved, Declined, or Funded. WILL update if currently Sent or Pending.
Other: No action taken (irrelevant email).