Fannie Mae Announces Technology Release to Help Additional Struggling Borrowers

Andrew Wilson

202-752-5168

WASHINGTON, DC – Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTC) has updated its Servicing Management Default Underwriter^™ tool to support a recently announced policy change that helps its servicers provide foreclosure prevention help to additional borrowers. By making this change, Fannie Mae will save its servicers the time, expense and complexity of implementing it on their own.

The recently announced policy change requires servicers to calculate the borrower’s full mortgage obligation, including the outstanding principal balance, past due interest and other arrearages, to determine eligibility for a Fannie Mae Standard Modification or Streamlined Modification. Previously, just the outstanding principal balance was used. As a result of the change, a greater number of borrowers facing financial hardship will qualify for assistance and a greater number will receive additional payment relief under their mortgage loan modification. The new policy can be found in Fannie Mae’s September 9, 2015 Servicing Guide Announcement.

“We are continuously looking for ways to help struggling Fannie Mae borrowers,” said Joy Cianci, Senior Vice President, Credit Portfolio Management, Fannie Mae. “With this technology update, our servicers will be able to help more struggling borrowers sooner since we are implementing the policy change directly in the tool.”

While servicers must implement the new policy by March 1, 2016, Fannie Mae updated Servicing Management Default Underwriter as of the weekend of December 5, 2015 so that borrowers can benefit from the change more quickly.

Servicing Management Default Underwriter is used by many Fannie Mae servicers to determine what foreclosure prevention options are available to help a borrower facing financial difficulty. The tool provides real time evaluation capabilities so that servicers can provide timely, responsive and effective help to borrowers. Additional information is available on Fannie Mae’s website.