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Fannie Mae Updates Property Eligibility And Appraisal Requirements, Other Selling Policies
On April 15, Fannie Mae issued Selling Guide Announcement SEL 2014-03, which includes numerous selling policy updates. Based on a comprehensive review of its current requirements, the announcement provides a series of new or updated property eligibility and appraisal requirements, which must be implemented no later than August 1, 2014. The announcement also states that Fannie Mae is retiring its two-step ARM mortgage, as well as standard ARM plans 1030 and 1031. For mortgage loans with notes dated on or after October 15, 2014 where the lender is registered with MERS, Fannie Mae will also require the use of a new rider to modify the standard security instruments in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The announcement includes numerous additional miscellaneous policy updates, and notes again the recent publication of the Selling Guide on Fannie Mae’s corporate website.
FHFA, City Of Chicago Resolve Dispute Over Vacant Property Ordinance
On April 3, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved an order of dismissal and memorandum of understanding jointly entered by the FHFA and the City of Chicago to end more than two years of litigation over a city ordinance that requires mortgagees to register vacant properties and pay a $500 registration fee per property. The ordinance also imposes maintenance and other obligations—whether the property has been foreclosed upon or not—with fines for noncompliance. In 2011, the FHFA sued the city, objecting that the ordinance would have improperly covered the activities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their agents. In August 2013, the court held that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exempt from the ordinance, and the FHFA subsequently sought to clarify the scope of the court’s order and asked the court for declaratory and monetary relief. The parties now have agreed to a memorandum of understanding pursuant to which the city will not enforce the ordinance against Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or their agents for as long as the GSEs remain under federal conservatorship. The FHFA agreed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will voluntarily register their vacant properties with the city, and the FHFA agreed not to try to recover fees and penalties already paid to the city under the ordinance.
Fannie Mae Updates Modification Policies
On March 28, Fannie Mae issued Servicing Guide Announcement SVC-2014-05, which provides, as recently promised, updated guidance regarding standard and streamlined modification programs. The announcement informs servicers that, by July 1, 2014, for mortgage loans with a pre-modified mark-to-market loan-to-value ratio less than 80%, servicers must ensure that borrowers satisfy all eligibility requirements for a Fannie Mae standard or streamlined modification. The announcement details the specific steps servicers must take to calculate the terms of the trial period plan. It also provides information for servicers to use in determining the appropriate information to include in an evaluation notice or solicitation letter, and informs servicers that if a borrower is eligible for a trial period plan with more than one amortization term, the borrower may choose an amortization term but the trial period plan notice must inform the borrower that he or she will not be able to change the amortization term after the first payment is received. The announcement states that if a mortgage loan becomes 60 or more days delinquent within 12 months of the modification effective date, the servicer must not approve another modification. Finally, Fannie Mae states that if the first trial period plan payment submitted by a borrower does not correspond to an amortization term payment offered in the plan, the servicer must use the shortest amortization term provided in the plan that is covered by the borrower’s actual payment to determine the amortization term and monthly payment obligation.
Fannie Mae To Begin Assessing Fees For Late, Inaccurate Reporting
On March 28, Fannie Mae notified servicers that, effective May 1, 2014, it will begin issuing warning letters and assessing compensatory fees to servicers that fail to submit Fannie Mae investor reporting system reports on a timely basis or that fail to use the correct data and formats. Alternatively, Fannie Mae reserves the right to issue an indemnification demand to any servicer that breaches these servicing requirements. Currently, Fannie Mae sends a Failed Business Rules report to servicers who fail to meet these requirements. After May 1, a servicer may be assessed: (i) greater of $250 or $50 per mortgage loan, up to a maximum of $5,000, for the first instance of late or inaccurate reporting; (ii) greater of $500 or $50 per mortgage loan, up to a maximum of $10,000, for the second instance of late or inaccurate reporting, if it occurs within one year of the first instance; and (iii) greater of $1000 or $50 per mortgage loan, up to a maximum of $15,000, for each subsequent instance of late or inaccurate reporting within one year of the most recent previous instance.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Clarify Rural Property Appraisal Requirements
On April 1, Freddie Mac issued Bulletin 2014-05, and on March 25, Fannie Mae issued Lender Letter LL-2014-02, in response to directives from the FHFA to clarify certain requirements related to appraisals for properties located in rural areas. In the clarifying documents, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac state that they do not require the use of third-party vendors such as appraisal management companies to order appraisals or to comply with requirements that the mortgage production function and the appraisal ordering and quality assurance functions remain separate. In addition, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide a small lender exception to the separation requirement. The guidance documents also state that a residential property in a market that contains properties or land uses that are non-residential in nature, is not necessarily ineligible for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Both entities assert that they will purchase a mortgage secured by a property that is unique or may not conform to its neighborhood, provided an appraiser is able to evaluate and report on how the characteristics of the market area and unique property features affect the value and the marketability of the subject property. The guidance documents also advise sellers that in areas with less real estate activity, such as rural market areas, appraisers may, with documented support, use comparable sales that are older than 12 months, or that are a considerable distance from the subject property or not similar to the subject property.
House Financial Services Ranking Member Unveils Housing Finance Reform Alternative
On March 27, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released draft legislation to reform the housing finance market. Congresswoman Waters also released a summary of the proposal and a section-by-section analysis of the bill. The proposed bill, titled the Housing Opportunities Move the Economy (HOME) Forward Act of 2014, offers a counter to a bill already approved by the committee—without any Democratic votes—that would replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a secondary market funded only by private capital. In certain ways, the HOME Forward Act parallels legislation recently unveiled by the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee. Like its Senate counterpart, Ms. Waters’s bill would establish an insurance fund to provide an explicit government guarantee for certain mortgage-backed securities. Also, similar to the Senate bill, Congresswoman Waters’s proposal would require private backers to take the first 5 percent of any loss (the Senate bill requires private backers to take the first 10 percent of any loss) before the government guarantee is activated. But unlike the Senate bill, which would allow for a variety of issuers to access the mortgage backed security market, the HOME Forward Act would create a co-op of lenders with exclusive authority to issue government-backed MBS. In further contrast to the Senate bill, the HOME Forward Act includes a “waterfall” plan for distribution of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s earnings in conservatorship to (i) Treasury Senior Preferred shares; (ii) any reserve funds needed in connection with wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (iii) outstanding Affordable Housing Fund payments; and (iv) existing preferred and common shareholders, including Treasury as holder of warrants. The HOME Forward Act also would eliminate rigid affordable housing goals and replace them with a broad based duty to serve requirement.
Senate Banking Leaders Release Draft Housing Finance Reform Bill
On March 16, Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) released long-awaited draft legislation to end the government’s conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reform the housing finance system. The Senators also released a summary of the proposal and a section-by-section analysis. The bill adopts many of the principles originally outlined in bipartisan legislation introduced last year by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Bob Corker (R-TN). Like the Warner-Corker bill, the leadership proposal would create a Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation (FMIC), modeled in part after the FDIC and intended to provide an explicit government backstop for certain MBS. The government backstop would sit behind private investors required to hold at least 10% capital on FMIC-issued securities. FMIC losses in turn would be backed by a reinsurance fund. The FMIC also would (i) oversee a new mortgage securitization platform; (ii) supervise guarantors, aggregators, servicers, and private mortgage insurers; and (iii) collect fees dedicated to support affordable housing and allocated among the Housing Trust Fund, the Capital Magnet Fund, and a new Market Access Fund. Under the bill servicers, aggregators, and others would be subject to capital requirements now only applicable to banks. The bill would establish a 5% down payment requirement for borrowers, 3.5% for first time borrowers. The bill also would create a jointly owned small lender mutual intended to provide small lenders access to the secondary market. The leadership’s small lender mutual would be open to more banks—any depository institution with up to $500 billion in assets—than the Warner-Corker plan would allow. The Committee is expected to markup the legislation in the coming weeks.
Fannie Mae Launches Online Selling Guide
This week, Fannie Mae began providing access to an online version of its single-family Selling Guide through its corporate website. Fannie Mae believes this online version will be easier to navigate and will allow for enhanced search capabilities. The new tool allows users to view on one screen all five Selling Guide part titles and introductions, and allows users to access subparts, chapters, and individual topics. Other new features include the ability to email and print pages.
Fannie Mae Delays Modification Policy Updates, Substitutes ARM Loan Indices
On March 12, Fannie Mae issued a notice postponing the April 1, 2014 implementation deadline for changes to its standard and streamlined modification programs announced in SVC-2013-28. Those changes expanded the programs to include loans with a pre-modification mark-to-market loan-to-value (MTMLTV) ratio of less than 80%. In the “near future,” Fannie Mae will announce a new effective date and updated requirements for such loans. Until the new requirements become effective, loans with MTMLTVs of less than 80% will continue to be eligible for a standard or streamlined modification if the loan servicer has fully implemented the previously-announced changes. In a separate notice relating to its adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) plans, Fannie Mae announced that it is requiring sellers and servicers to substitute certain LIBOR indices for the discontinued Federal Reserve Board CD index, and as a result it is retiring two standard ARM plans based on the discontinued index.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Publish Uniform Closing Dataset Mapping Document
On March 11, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published the Uniform Closing Dataset's (UCD) MISMO-mapping document, Appendix B: Closing Disclosure Mapping to the MISMO v3.3 Reference Model, which provides a common dataset to implement the CFPB’s closing disclosure. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have not yet determined the method or timeline for collecting UCD from lenders, the release allows lenders and their vendors to begin preparing for the collection.