Compliance Calendar

Fannie Mae announces that Property 360™ will eliminate manual submissions for REOgram notifications for Real Estate Owned (REO) properties acquired through foreclosure or Mortgage Release (deed-in-lieu of foreclosure) and REOgrams will not be processed through Asset Management Network after September 1, 2021.

Fannie Mae provides advance notice of upcoming changes to investor reporting processes and systems, which will simplify and streamline servicer reporting and will be introduced in a phased approach beginning September 2021 and will continue through 2022.

• Reimbursement of gross servicing fee and guaranty fee for mortgage loans with a payment deferral (Effective with the Sep. 2021 mortgage loan activity reporting)
• Elimination of servicer’s advance payment of UPB at foreclosure (Effective with the Sep. 2021 mortgage loan activity reporting)
• Streamline investor reporting with LSDU self-serve capabilities (To be announced; targeting the first quarter of 2022)
• 2022 cash simplification changes (TBD - To be announced at a later date)
• Reporting due date for summary reporting mortgage loans (To be announced; targeting the first quarter of 2022)
• LAR 96 format expansion (To be announced; targeting the first quarter of 2022)
• P&I remittance for summary reporting A/A mortgage loans (To be announced; targeting the fourth quarter of 2022)
• Guaranty fee relief after four months delinquency ((To be announced; targeting with the May 2022 cash remittance cycle based on April 2022 loan activity reporting).

Texas Senate Bill 1900 amends provisions regarding requirements for maintenance and location of offices under its Residential Mortgage Loan Company Licensing and Registration Act effective September 1, 2021.

Freddie Mac Selling Guide Bulletin 2021-29 announces updates relating to revised requirements for Home Possible Mortgages with Seller-funded Affordable Seconds®, updates related to Caution Mortgages, updated Manufactured Home appraisal and CHOICEHome® requirements, updated requirements for determining loan-to-value ratios for “no cash-out” refinance transactions for Manufactured Homes, updated property eligibility requirements related to group homes, additional clarity related to the External Seller Setup Manager role in Loan Selling Advisor®, removing delivery requirements for Advanced PITI Payments and Principal Curtailments for Cash-Released XChange®, Puerto Rico 30-day Average SOFR-indexed ARM Notes and Riders, and the glossary addition of “Credit Fee” and “Credit Fee in Fixed Dollars”.

Fannie Mae has updated the Selling Guide to allow lenders to utilize a positive rent payment history to help increase homeownership opportunities for certain first-time homebuyers, update the credit score used by DU in the eligibility assessment when there is more than one borrower, incorporate policies in Lender Letter LL-2021-11, provide more detailed instructions related to business continuity, cross-default provisions, and clear reporting standards, update lender down payment assistance, DU Version 11.0 September updates, and update co-op document requirements.

REOgram™ notifications

To simplify the REOgram notification process, servicers must now use Property 360 to review and confirm the REOgram notification within one business day upon receipt of the daily REOgram notification for any property acquired through foreclosure sale or acceptance of a Mortgage Release. Servicers must review and resolve any exceptions from the daily notification in Property 360 no later than three business days, if applicable. Prior to this change, servicers used our data entry application – AMN. Although there is no current impact, there is a future update that will impact reverse mortgage loans.

Effective: Servicers are encouraged to implement this policy change immediately, but must do so by Sep. 1, 2021.

This Announcement includes updates to the following :

• the reimbursement process for applicable servicing fees, guaranty fees, and excess servicing fees for mortgage loans with a completed payment deferral, COVID-19 payment deferral, or disaster payment deferral when the mortgage loan matures or is paid off; and

• elimination of the requirement for servicers to advance payment of outstanding scheduled UPB upon completion of the
  foreclosure for certain scheduled/scheduled remittance type mortgage loans.
  

Fannie Mae SEL-2021-07 announces Selling Guide updates to clarify the policy on prohibited refinance transactions to include that a transaction is not eligible as a limited cash-out refinance if the borrower completed a cash-out refinance transaction with a note date 30 days or less prior to the application date of a new refinance secured by the same property.

On September 2, 2021, Fannie Mae published their policy and operational changes to streamline and simplify its Master servicing process and systems.

FHA has issued temporary partial waivers to requirements in Mortgagee Letter 2015-11 and Mortgagee Letter 2016-07, to provide mortgagees with expanded flexibility to help senior homeowners with HECMs struggling financially due to COVID-19.

• Temporary partial waiver of Mortgagee Letter 2015-11. This waiver allows mortgagees to offer repayment plans to HECM borrowers with unpaid property charges regardless of their total outstanding arrearage and is effective through June 30, 2022.

• Temporary partial waiver of Mortgagee Letter 2016-07. This waiver permits mortgagees to seek assignment of a HECM immediately after using their own funds to pay unpaid property taxes and insurance on or after March 1, 2020. Additionally, it eliminates the three-year waiting period for such assignments. The waiver is effective through June 30, 2022.

As the nation continues its COVID-19 recovery, these waivers offer relief to HECM borrowers who were unable to make timely property charge payments due to financial
hardships resulting from the pandemic.

Mortgagees are encouraged to thoroughly review both waivers and the policies outlined in Mortgagee Letters 2015-11 and 2016-07.

New Mexico

• At time of referral, Lenders/Servicers will need to upload a copy(ies) of the recent correspondence sent to the borrowers that meet requirement #1 above: A description of the types of loss mitigation options available to the borrowers and the actions the borrowers must take to be reviewed for those options. The Firm will review the letter(s) that were sent to determine if they meet the Court’s requirements.
• The Firm will send a letter, the “Notice” to the borrowers with the required information described in #2-4 above. We will enclose the Court approved “Homeowner Help Resources” list as well as the loan type and contact information for the servicer.
• Once the Firm mails the letter out, it will upload a copy of the letter and upload the Plaintiff’s Certification of Pre-filing Notice for execution by the Lender/Servicer. The executed Certification will need to be received by the Firm prior to filing the first legal.

I. For all foreclosure cases filed on or after September 7, 2021, a Certification of the Absence of Loan Modification and/or Loss Mitigation Negotiations must be executed and submitted to Court with the judgment pleadings for the Court Clerk to accept the filing. A copy of the form is attached.

The Plaintiff’s Certification of the Absence of Loan Modification and/or Loss Mitigation Negotiations form must be executed by the Plaintiff/Lender/Servicer certifying 4 things:

• Neither Plaintiff nor any affiliate or agent of Plaintiff is currently engaged in any loan modification negotiations with Defendant or Defendant’s agents.
• Neither Plaintiff nor any affiliate or agent of Plaintiff is currently engaged in any loss mitigation negotiations with Defendant or Defendant’s agents.
• Plaintiff or its affiliate or agent has solicited and attempted to engage Defendant homeowner in loan modification negotiations pre-foreclosure.
• Plaintiff or its affiliate or agent has solicited and attempted to engage Defendant in loss mitigation negotiations pre-foreclosure.

Our suggested procedure for this Certification at judgment time:

• The Firm will upload this Certification for execution by the Lender/Servicer prior to judgment time

Here is the link to the NM Supreme Court website to view the docs:

2021 | Supreme Court

And the two new forms to be executed:

https://supremecourt.nmcourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/08/4-227-Supreme-Court-Approved-8-2-21.pdf

and

https://supremecourt.nmcourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/08/4-712-Supreme-Court-Approved-8-2-21.pdf

New York enacted provisions for residential foreclosure protections specific to Part C, Subpart B of Senate Bill 50001.

This section shall apply to any action to foreclose a mortgage relating to residential real property, provided the owner or mortgagor of such property is a natural person, regardless of how title is held, and owns ten or fewer dwelling units whether directly or indirectly.

VA Circular 26-21-16 expresses concern about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan borrowers affected by Hurricane Ida and describes measures mortgagees may employ to provide relief.

Fannie Mae announces Servicing Guide updates including updated Lender Record Information (Form 582) requirements, as well as removal of the requirement to conduct the final interior property inspection for a Mortgage Release.

On September 14, 2021, Fannie Mae published the updated Positive Rent Payment History in Desktop Underwriter Frequently Asked Questions.

VA Circular 26-21-17 provides technical information on how loan servicers can submit a request for a partial claim payment under the COVID-19 Veterans Assistance Partial Claim Payment program (COVID-VAPCP).

Delaware House Bill 159 modifies the locations where sheriff's sales may be conducted to provide the sheriffs with needed flexibility and modernize the sheriffs' sale process effective September 15, 2021.

Fannie Mae announced the retirement of Collateral Underwriter Message 797, effective September 17, 2021.

RHS announces revisions to HB-1-3555, Chapter 11, Ratio Analysis effective September 22, 2021.

Freddie Mac Selling Guide Bulletin 2021-30 announces removal of the limit on the volume of deliveries of single-family mortgages secured by second homes and Investment Properties previously published in Guide Bulletin 2021-21, effective immediately.

RHS announces revisions to HB-1-3555, Chapter 18 Policy Updates COVID-19 Special Relief Measures.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities adopted provisions relating to mortgage servicer regulations that include definitions, early intervention requirements for certain borrowers, and loss mitigation procedures effective immediately.

Refer to the bulletin for the extensive updates.

Freddie Mac Servicing Guide Bulletin 2021-18 introduces PAID (Payments Automated Intelligent and Dynamic), a reengineered expense reimbursement tool that replaces Reimbursement System (VendorScape® ) on September 27, 2021.

On or after September 27, 2021, Servicers must submit all expense reimbursement requests and requests for pre-approval (RPA) submissions through PAID instead of through the Reimbursement System (also known as VendorScape^®).

PAID enables Servicers to submit, manage, and view the status of expense reimbursement requests. Servicers will submit requests for reimbursement at the expense level versus at a claim level. The workflow combines the expense and the RPA into a single streamlined submission. PAID provides real time decisions on whether an expense is payable, including data validation for required edits. PAID has also simplified the bulk upload functionality that automatically creates multiple expenses or RPAs from a single imported file. Furthermore, the reporting functions provide Servicers a comprehensive view of all expenses and a complete loan history for enhanced oversight.

PAID will be accessed through Servicing Gateway. Learn more by visiting the PAID web page.

See Guide Bulletin for complete details.

This ML provides an additional period of up to six months of COVID-19 Forbearance when the initial Forbearance was requested between July 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021.

HUD is also providing an additional period of up to six months for a COVID-19 HECM Extension when the initial extension request was made between July 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021.

This ML also establishes an initial COVID-19 Forbearance period or HECM Extension for up to six months when requested between October 1, 2021, and the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency. Further, this ML provides an additional COVID-19 Forbearance or HECM Extension period of up to six months if the initial COVID-19 Forbearance or HECM Extension is exhausted and expires during the COVID-19 National Emergency.

No COVID-19 Forbearance period may extend beyond six months after the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency or September 30, 2022, whichever is later.

Please refer to the Mortgagee Letter for full details for the COVID-19 forbearance period based on date of initial COVID-19 forbearance.

Maine LD 1066 (SP 334) is an act to clarify the definition of a "mortgage servicer" in the laws governing mortgage foreclosures, effective September 28, 2021.

Maine Senate Paper 205 enacts an Act to protect consumers against predatory lending practices effective September 28, 2021.

The VA published this Circular to communicate that servicers may continue offering loan deferment as a COVID-19 home retention option, according to VA’s COVID-19 Home Retention Waterfall.

For borrowers who have not received a COVID-related forbearance as of September 29, 2021, servicers should approve requests from such borrowers provided that the borrower makes the request during the National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

VA expects that all COVID-related forbearances will end not later than September 30, 2022.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs) are implementing a two-year transition to convert certain edits in their Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) collection solutions from “warning” to “critical/fatal.” The transition will begin in May 2021 and is designed to enhance data quality and consistency for single-family loans purchased by the GSEs.

Phase 2 Closing Disclosure Sections:

• Loan Terms
• Projected Payments
• Cash to Close
• Summaries of
Transactions