This Week's Highlights - Tuesday, July 7, 2020
  • NEW! FWL VA IRRRL Checklist
  • Stay Up-to-Date on Fairway's Covid-19 Temporary Guidelines
  • Coming Soon! New Jumbo Offering
  • Register Today! Knowledge Owl Training Opportunities 7/21
  • Paying Down Installment Debt
  • Verifying FNMA/FHLMC Mortgage Ownership
  • USDA Publishes Updated FAQs
  • Home Possible Income and Property Eligibility Tool
  • Important! Fairway Process for 2020 vs 2019 HomeReady Income Limits
  • Fannie Mae - Updates Man Home Titling Job Aid
 
NEW! FWL VA IRRRL Checklist
The VA IRRRL Checklist has been updated and can be found on the FWL Resource Page within DRIVER. Once you have logged in, select on Resources as shown below.
 

Select on Broker Center and Forms & Documents in the drop down.

Various Submission Checklists can be found as shown below.

 
Stay Up-to-Date on Fairway's Covid-19 Temporary Guidelines
Fairway Wholesale Lending continues to provide you with the most up-to-date information with the ever changing guidelines due to Covid-19. As a reminder, all temporary guidelines implemented by FWL and the agencies can be found by accessing the Covid-19 Temporary Guidance topic in Knowledge Owl.
 
Additionally, you can access the FWL Overlay QRG, which is a quick reference guide that was created for our valued clients, which reflects some of these temporary guidelines. This QRG is also available in Knowledge Owl.
 
Note: As a reminder, you must be logged into Knowledge Owl to access guidelines.
 
Coming Soon! New Jumbo Offering
Great news! A new jumbo offering is in the process of being rolled out next week for Fairway Wholesale Lending.

Stay tuned for more info!
 
Register Today! Knowledge Owl Training Opportunities 7/21
As a reminder, Fairway Wholesale Lending is excited to be offering live Knowledge Owl Training opportunities scheduled for the 3rd Tuesday of the every month for our valued clients.

Knowledge Owl (KO) is the system in which Fairway's program guidelines are housed and are accessible by logging into DRIVER.

The training will provide the ins & outs of KO's functionalities and assist you with various tips for accessing guidelines in a quick and efficient manner, as well as allow the opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have.

Register below for this month's opportunity! You don't want to miss out!

July 21st @ 12 PM CST

 
Q: Can a borrower pay down installment debt if needed to qualify?

A: Conventional and USDA agencies permit paying installment debt down to 10 months or less for qualifying as long as the source of funds is documented and accounted for.  But when the debt is considered significantly impacting or when the type of debt is something that has potential for a long term type of debt, the underwriter has discretion to include the debt in qualifying anyway.

Example: An auto loan payment. If the borrower’s credit reflects long history of auto loan payments, it may be an implication that the borrower is likely to trade or sell and finance a different auto once the existing auto loan is paid off which means the potential for long term debt remains.

In these types of cases, the underwriter may still want to consider including the payment in long term debt for DTI qualifying purposes. The borrower would need to provide explanation to justify plans for not taking in any new auto debt once the existing loan is paid off.
 
Q.  How do I know if the Borrower's current mortgage is owned by FNMA or FHLMC?

A.  You can obtain this information by accessing the FNMA Loan Look-Up Tool / FHLMC Loan Look-Up Tool, provided the Borrower has authorized this information to be obtained on their behalf.

 
USDA Publishes Updated FAQs
USDA has released additional FAQs related to the origination and servicing of USDA Single Family Housing Guaranteed loans, which have been added to the previously posted FAQs related to COVID-19. 
 
Home Possible Income and Property Eligibility Tool
Freddie Mac announced that the Home Possible Income and Property Eligibility Tool will be updated on 7/12/2020 with the new 2020 area median income (AMI) limits.  
  • If the AMI has declined and the loan was submitted to LPA prior to 7/12, the higher of 2019 AMI limits will be applied.
  • If the AMI has increased and the loan was submitted to LPA prior to 7/12, the higher 2020 AMI limits will be applied.
Fairway Process for 2020 vs 2019 HomeReady Income Limits
As a reminder, Fannie Mae's 2020 HomeReady income limits increased and were implemented in DU on 06/20/2020.  When DU casefiles have been run for a HomeReady loan with 2019 income limits prior to 06/20/2020 and the borrower would like to qualify with the 2020 income limits after 06/20/2020, you may proceed with the following process:
  • Remove the current DU Casefile ID
  • Run DU with a new Casefile ID to obtain the 2020 limits
Please Note: The HomeReady loan must receive a DU Approve/Eligible. If the new Casefile ID results in an Approve/Ineligible or Refer with Caution, the loan remains as ineligible and is not permitted to return to the original Casefile ID.

Fannie Mae Updates Manufactured Housing Titling Job Aid
Fannie Mae added all 50 States to their Titling Manufactured Homes as Real Property job aid (Previously this job aid addressed AZ, CA, CO, FL, MI, NV, NC, OR, TX and WA.) Such titling is a critical step in making a mortgage on a manufactured home eligible for sale to Fannie Mae. 

Fannie Mae created the job aid to assist with mortgage financing of manufactured homes after their initial retail sale to a consumer. In some instances, the information contained may also relate to mortgage financing after the initial retail sale to a consumer or in other contexts.

Steve Jacobson, CEO - "Let us all be leaders we wish we had."