Selling Policy Communications
Access a list of Selling Announcements, Lender Letters, Notices, and related communications.
Selling Guide updates typically are published on the first Wednesday of the month.
| Lender Letter LL-2021-10 – Expanding Refinance Eligibility with RefiNow | April 6, 2022-This Lender Letter provides information about a new refinance option – RefiNow™ – that will enable more borrowers to refinance to a lower interest rate and reduce their monthly mortgage payment. |
| Announcement SEL-2022-02 – Selling Guide Updates | March 2, 2022-The March Selling Guide update includes changes to single-close construction-to-permanent transaction requirements, adds Condo Project Manager™ (CPM™) status designations to align with the enhancements in the March 4 CPM release, and simplifies policy for the allowable interest rate permitted on a Community Seconds® transaction. |
| Announcement SEL-2022-01 – Selling Guide Updates | February 2, 2022-The February Selling Guide update includes changes to allow desktop appraisals for certain purchase transactions, updates the HomeStyle® Renovation loan agreement, modifies certain time frames and processes for HomeStyle® loans, provides a loan-level price adjustment credit for HomePath® properties, simplifies documentation requirements for depository assets, clarifies reporting requirements related to anti-money laundering Bank Secrecy Act requirements, and more. |
| Lender Letter LL-2022-01 – Loan-level Price Adjustments for Second Home and High-balance Loans | January 5, 2022-This Lender Letter provides information about changes to loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) that will apply to second home and high-balance mortgage loans. The updated LLPAs are effective for all whole loans purchased on or after April 1, 2022, and for loans delivered into MBS pools with issue dates on or after April 1, 2022. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-11 – Selling Guide Updates | December 15, 2021-The December Selling Guide update modifies the definition of principal residence to include military service members on active duty, clarifies required documentation when a borrower has filed an extension with the IRS, expands allowable comparable sales for new (or recently converted) projects, establishes standard requirements for measuring and calculating gross living area, and more. |
| Selling Notice - Considerations for Assisting Borrowers with Refinance Transactions | December 8, 2021-As interest rates continue to remain low, refinances are an attractive option for many borrowers. There are many reasons a borrower may be seeking to refinance – lowering the interest rate, lowering monthly payments, shortening the loan term, moving to a fixed-rate from an ARM, moving to a different ARM index, or taking equity out of the property. We offer several refinance options. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-16 – Confirmation of Conforming Loan Limits for 2022 | November 30, 2021-Fannie Mae loan limits are increasing in 2022. The new loan limit for most of the country will be $647,200 — an 18.05% increase over the 2021 limit — and is effective for whole loans delivered to Fannie Mae and loans in MBS pools with issue dates on or after Jan. 1, 2022. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-10 – Selling Guide Updates | November 3, 2021-The November Selling Guide update modifies and clarifies policies related to military personnel and leave and earnings statement, permits the delivery of loans previously modified following the application of a principal curtailment and recast of the principal balance, and provides other miscellaneous updates. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-15 – Unrecorded Assignments of Mortgage and New Limited Powers of Attorney | October 20, 2021-This Lender Letter provides notice of upcoming changes to our requirement for unrecorded assignments of mortgage for loans not registered with Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc. (MERS). Instead of this requirement, we are requiring a one-time delivery of limited powers of attorney (Form 520), which sellers/servicers are encouraged to submit now but must complete and deliver by March 1, 2022. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-14 Temporary Requirements for Condo and Co-op Projects | October 13, 2021-This Lender Letter specifies temporary requirements that impact the eligibility of certain condo and co-op projects. These requirements relate to significant deferred maintenance and unsafe conditions, special assessments, reserve requirements, project eligibility waivers, and more. Additionally, these requirements are designed to protect borrowers from physically unsafe or financially unstable projects, and to prudently manage risk for Fannie Mae, our lenders, and investors. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-09 – Selling Guide Updates | October 6, 2021-This Selling Guide update modifies the permitted homeownership education and counseling providers to allow qualified third parties to administer homeownership education and counseling, no longer requiring the sole use of the Framework® program, when it becomes effective January 2022. Other changes include the removal of constant maturity treasury indexed-ARMs and the replacement of references to the Software Subscription Agreement Master Terms and Conditions with a new Consolidated Technology Licensing Guide. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-08 – Selling Guide Updates | September 1, 2021-This Selling Guide update allows lenders to use positive rent payment history in Desktop Underwriter ® (DU®) to help increase homeownership opportunities for certain first-time homebuyers, updates the credit score used by DU in the eligibility assessment when there are multiple borrowers, incorporates qualified mortgage policies addressed in LL-2021-11, revises Form 582 submission requirements, updates co-op document requirements, and more. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-07 – Selling Guide Updates | August 4, 2021-This Selling Guide update clarifies the policy related to prearranged refinance arrangements, specifies when credit card reward points can be used as eligible assets, removes the expired Version 1 of the representations and warranties framework, updates risk factors in Desktop Underwriter® (DU®), and clarifies the policy on interested party contributions. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-13 – Elimination of the Adverse Market Refinance Fee | July 16, 2021-This Lender Letter announces elimination of the adverse market refinance fee effective Aug. 1, 2021. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-06 – Selling Guide Updates | July 7, 2021-This Selling Guide update includes these changes: reduces asset documentation requirements for refinanced transactions, clarifies when an appraisal update or new appraisal is needed, updates the MBS trade confirmation process, and provides other miscellaneous updates. The announcement also describes updates made to all uniform legal instruments to enhance clarity and usability. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-05 – Selling Guide Updates | June 2, 2021-This Selling Guide update includes: new topic on notarization standards with requirements for remote ink-signed notarization; clarifies timing expectations for electronic data submission in Loan Delivery; and clarifies that loans with technical or typographical corrections are not considered modified loans. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-11 – Loan Eligibility Qualified Mortgage Rule | May 26, 2021-This Lender Letter provides details about underwriting and loan eligibility policies, certain Desktop Underwriter® implementation policies, and a change to our high LTV refinance product to align with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Revised Qualified Mortgage Rule under the Ability to Repay regulation as required by 2021 amendments to our senior preferred stock purchase agreement. |
| Selling Notice - Area Median Incomes 2021 | May 19, 2021-During the weekend of Jun. 5, the 2021 AMIs will be implemented in Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) and published on our website for use with manually underwritten loans. DU will apply the 2021 limits to new DU loan casefiles created on or after Jun. 5, 2021. Loan casefiles created prior to Jun. 5, 2021 will continue to use the 2020 limits. For manually underwritten loans, lenders are encouraged to use the 2021 limits immediately, but are required to use them for loans with application dates on or after Jul. 1, 2021. |
| Announcement SEL-2021-04 – Selling Guide Updates | May 5, 2021-This Selling Guide update includes: enhanced post-closing quality control collateral risk assessment requirements; simplified pool closing process for all MBS settlements; updated Desktop Underwriter® casefile archive policy; and a miscellaneous update to address tax filing published by the IRS. |
| Lender Letter LL-2021-04 – Impact of Covid-19 on Appraisals | April 21, 2021-This Lender Letter provides temporary flexibilities to our appraisal requirements. |
