|
|
| Fannie Mae wants to know more about the loan officers and appraisers on loans it acquires. New reporting will help the company better identify crooked players by analyzing mortgage fraud patterns by originator and appraiser.The secondary lender will begin requiring the registration or license number of loan originators on loan applications dated Jan. 1, 2010, or later, according to Lender Letter 02-2009 issued today. Data identifiers will also be required for the originator’s company.
Fannie has been required by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to collect the new loan-level data elements as mandated in Title V of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act — or S.A.F.E. Act — enacted on July 30, 2008. The legislation required a Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry to be created. FHFA first announced the new requirements last month. Both Fannie and its government sponsored cousin Freddie Mac are required to implement the reporting as of Jan. 1, 2010. As defined in the law, originators include anyone who takes mortgage applications and offers or negotiates mortgage terms. The requirement will be waived in states that don’t implement the licensing process by the deadline — though the Washington, D.C.-based firm will quickly institute the reporting as those states come online. Fannie will also require the license or certification numbers of field appraisers for loans with applications dated Jan. 1, 2010, or later. If the field appraiser was a sub-contractor or employee of an appraiser or an appraisal firm, then the license or certification number of the supervisory appraiser will also be required. “If originators or appraisers have contributed to the incidences of mortgage fraud, these identifiers allow the enterprises to get to the root of the problem and address the issues,” FHFA’s director said in January’s announcement. |
|
next story
back to current headlines
