By Elva Coffey-Sears
On Tuesday, August 23 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a revised Uniform Residential Loan Application Form (URLA). The URLA, Fannie Mae’s Form 1003 and Freddie Mac’s Form 65, is the standardized application for residential mortgages used in the industry for more over twenty years. The URLA, which is jointly owned by the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), was last updated in 2009. While the revised forms may not be used until January 1, 2018, a mandatory compliance date has yet to be published.
Prompted by the need to revise the government monitoring information section to reflect the expanded 2018 HMDA data collection requirements, Fannie and Freddie led the redesign process and sought input from lenders, technology service providers, the government housing agencies, the CFPB, other industry participants and trade groups, as well as consumers. The result is, according to Fannie and Freddie, a cleaner, more consumer-friendly form with segregated borrower and lender information fields updated to reflect the current mortgage lending business and remove obsolete fields.
An interactive URLA, including drop down menus and calculations for section totals, is already available, with plans to release a dynamic document with expandable/collapsible sections to support multiple borrowers and accommodate the unique requirements of each application. Data mapping will be provided for lenders and technology service providers and updates to automated underwriting system will be completed to facilitate necessary interfaces.
Although the new form has been released, the CFPB is currently reviewing the form to determine whether it supports the existing Regulation B safe harbor – so additional modifications may be required.
The new 1003 loan application forms, related instructions, data mapping and other information are available at www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/uniform-residential-loan-application
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