After considering feedback from its clients, Freddie Mac has made it much easier to avoid a low-activity fee that was recently implemented.
The secondary lender issued Bulletin No. 2013-8 last month indicating that seller-servicers would be assessed $7,500 if they didn’t sell at least $5 million to Freddie during a calendar year.
However, they could also avoid the low activity fee by maintaining a Freddie Mac servicing portfolio of at least $25 million as of Dec. 31.
At the time, Freddie said that the fee would support risk management efforts and offset the cost of maintaining seller-servicers and monitoring ongoing compliance with eligibility requirements.
But after receiving industry feedback, the McLean, Va.-based firm said that it reassessed the policy, according to Bulletin No. 2013-12 issued Tuesday.
As a result, the low-activity fee has been changed to a no-activity fee.
In order to avoid the $7,500 fee, a seller-servicer cannot go more than 36 months without selling a loan to Freddie.
A seller-servicer can also avoid the assessment as long as it services, or acts as a servicing agent, for “a mortgage portfolio for Freddie Mac as of Dec. 31 of the immediately preceding calendar year.”
New seller-servicers are exempt from the fee for at least three years after approval.
