At the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are communicating that the optional use period for the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) form and corresponding datasets will not begin on July 1, 2019 as previously scheduled.
The effective date of the form will be revised and an updated version will be provided at a later date.
The revised Uniform Residential Loan Application was initially scheduled to be effective on January 1, 2018. The effective date was moved to February 1, 2020, with optional use allowed beginning on July 1, 2019. Now the July 1st date has been postponed. The new optional use date is unknown. The impact on the February 1, 2020 mandatory compliance date is not known.
A little additional time can be good thing, but a change at this late date, after many lenders have revised forms and systems, and have completed training, borders on incompetence. And the announcement that additional changes are to be made, which means more revisions and more training is not welcome.
Fannie and Freddie generally have had good reputations in the industry for efficient operations. Under the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie and Freddie are losing their hard earned goodwill at a very rapid pace.
Stayed tuned for the continued misadventures of the FHFA, Fannie and Freddie.
