| In This Issue... |
|---|
|
What's New
Mortgage Products
Underwrite and Process with Loan Prospector
Sell & Deliver Loans
Service Loans
Training and Education
|
|
December 19 Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide Bulletin
With the December 19, 2007 Guide Bulletin [PDF 150K], we offer solutions that address your business needs in today's challenging mortgage market. We've updated the Guide to reflect that we're maintaining the 2008 conforming loan limits at the 2007 levels so you can continue to make lower-cost mortgages available to your borrowers, and revising a number of servicing requirements to streamline processes for Servicers.
Maintaining 2008 conforming loan limits at the 2007 levels
For 2008, the loan limits will remain at the 2007 levels. This is the third straight year we'll have the same conforming loan limits, even as the housing sector continues to face dramatic shifts.
With the same loan limits, you can:
- Continue to make lower-cost mortgages available to homebuyers. You can reach more borrowers and meet their home financing needs with our comprehensive set of products, including Home Possible® Mortgages, which offer a range of credit flexibilities and low down payment options.
- Assess your portfolio needs. Fluctuating interest rates have changed the interest rate and credit risk of mortgage portfolios. Now is the time to assess the liquidity of your portfolio. Take advantage of our mortgage portfolio solutions and capital markets expertise to explore options that will make your mortgage holdings work more effectively in today's shifting market.
- Rest easy with no operational changes. Because the conforming loan limits remain unchanged, there are no changes to your operational procedures or processes, including Loan Prospector® assessment and commitment and delivery processes.
Compliance with data privacy-related laws
We've added Guide requirements and Servicer obligations regarding data privacy. In particular, we are expressly requiring Sellers and Servicers to comply with all applicable privacy laws and regulations, and Servicers to have internal control systems in place to safeguard a borrower's personal information and to properly manage privacy breach situations involving a Freddie Mac loan.
Servicers must comply with, among others, the following privacy-related requirements by April 1, 2008:
- Maintain an Incident Response Program and immediately notify Freddie Mac if the integrity of a borrower's personal information has been breached.
- Cooperate with Freddie Mac by providing all information and assistance, when requested, to enable us to comply with our own legal obligations related to the borrower's information.
- Permit Freddie Mac to conduct monitoring as needed to confirm that the Servicer has procedures in place, which satisfy its obligations to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws related to data privacy and the safeguarding of personal information.
Streamlined documentation requirements for loan modifications
We've taken steps to decrease the administrative work on loan modifications so Servicers have more time to work with borrowers and find solutions that preserve their dreams of homeownership.
You are no longer required to send us executed copies of completed loan modification agreements and are now only required to submit the signed Loss Mitigation Transmittal Worksheet that accurately reflects the terms of the approved loan modification.
New contact information for Balloon/Reset Mortgages
To centralize communications for the convenience of our Servicers with balloon/reset loans in their servicing portfolio, we've added a new e-mail box and fax number exclusively for inquiries about Balloon/Reset Mortgages. Now you can easily contact us with questions and reset requests, and send us exception forms, copies of notes, histories, and all other documents needed to resolve any balloon/reset loan issues.
Please contact us via our new:
Changes to the Designated Counsel Program to streamline processes
When foreclosure remains the only option, we promote effective foreclosure timeline management to reduce the costs of foreclosure. Take advantage of the Designated Counsel Program, which makes use of highly qualified counsel and trustees to help improve foreclosure and bankruptcy timeline management in 19 states.
- To better expedite legal proceedings, we've updated the list of documentation you must send to Designated Counsel (DC), and shortened the timeframe that this state-specific documentation must be sent to a DC to within two days of referral.
- When you use a DC, you become eligible for credit to your Servicer Performance Profile, and if you provide the DC with the documentation they need sooner, you further contribute to your foreclosure time line performance.
Note: As we notified Servicers by e-mail on January 8, 2008, we will be adding McCabe, Weisberg & Conway, P.C.; and Powers, Kirn & Javardian, LLC. to our Designated Counsel Program in Pennsylvania. As of February 1, 2008 you will receive Designated Counsel credit on all new referrals to these two firms. Check our website for the complete Designated Counsel/Trustee list.
Other Guide changes announced in the December 19 Guide Bulletin
As you continue to implement Freddie Mac offerings and solutions, it's important that you're familiar with all changes announced in our December 19 Guide Bulletin, including the following:
Selling requirements
- Providing Sellers the additional option of executing and delivering Master Agreement and Master Commitment Contract signature pages via e-mail as an Electronic Record.
- Making several changes to Exhibit 10, Freddie Mac-Approved Mortgage Insurers, and moving this exhibit to FreddieMac.com.
Selling and Servicing requirements
- Refining the reasons for Seller/Servicer disqualification and suspension.
- Updating the Guide to address a Seller/Servicer's obligation to provide mortgage information to a credit enhancer when Freddie Mac obtains credit enhancements on mortgages we purchase.
Servicing requirements
- Specifying that our Investor Accounting area is responsible for supplying Servicers with the charge-off form containing the amount to be charged off on the loan.
- Introducing a separate expense code to Exhibit 74, Expense and Income Codes to the Form 104SF, so that Servicers may more easily request expense reimbursement when the primary insurance policy excluded windstorm coverage.
- Revising and updating several Servicer forms.
For more information
To help you prepare for these changes, we encourage you to:
- Review our December 19 Guide Bulletin [PDF 150K]
for further details on these changes.
- Call your Freddie Mac Account Manager or contact (800) FREDDIE.
|
