Fannie Mae Announces Numerous Servicing Policy Changes; ULDD Mandate Takes Effect

Freddie Mac Fannie Mae Mortgage Origination Mortgage Servicing Servicing Guide

On July 25, Fannie Mae issued Servicing Guide Announcement SVC-2012-12, which provides notice of miscellaneous changes to the Fannie Mae Servicing Guide related to (i) the MERS Rule 14 Notice, (ii) approved title company requirements for certain states, and (iii) allowable attorney fees.  With respect to the MERS Rule 14 notice, servicers will now be required to notify Fannie Mae whenever they are required to send MERS notice of certain MERS-related legal challenges.  Fannie Mae announced that it is eliminating the requirement that servicers select a Fannie Mae-approved title company for work performed inArizona,California andWashington. Instead, servicers may select the title company of their choice.  Fannie Mae also announced changes to the allowable amount of attorney’s and trustee’s fees in several jurisdictions.

On July 23, the Uniform Loan Delivery Dataset (ULDD) mandate took effect for loans delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae recently provided a notification, and Freddie Mac recently published a Bulletin, outlining updates to their ULDD resources.