Client
Announcements

As a reminder, USDA has announced that they will continue processing loans through 02/26/2021 and final submissions received by USDA via Legacy GUS by 11:59 PM ET on 02/12/2021 will be considered for conditional commitment prior to the 02/26/2021 closure of Legacy GUS.

Loans submitted after 02/12/2021 are not guaranteed to be reviewed prior to the 2/26/2021 deadline, however, USDA will continue to review as many files as possible until that time. 

As a reminder, USDA has provided the following important dates: 

• 02/26/2021: Legacy GUS will no longer be available for editing or processing applications as of the close of business day.

• 02/27 - 02/28/2021: All SFHGLP systems will be unavailable to facilitate the transition to New GUS.

• 03/01/2021: New GUS goes live. Existing applications in Legacy GUS that did not receive a conditional commitment will require the application to be reentered into New GUS for consideration by USDA.

EXCITING REMINDER!

Did you know that we now have a Auto Rate Lock Extension functionality in  Fairway’s Driver Portal for conventional and government fixed rate products.  With this enhancement, physical lock confirmations will still be delivered manually following the extension request through DRIVER.  

Please note, you cannot use this functionality if the loan is in CTC or if a COC is pending.

Effective for loan applications on and after January 19, 2021 individuals classified under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program with the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) are eligible to apply for an FHA mortgage provided the following is documented in the file:

• Must be legally permitted to work in the U.S. and have an Employment Authorization Document (EAD);
  • Note: If the EAD will expire within one year and there is a prior history of residency status renewals then it may be assumed that continuation will be granted. If there are no prior renewals the likelihood of renewal must be determined based on information from the USCIS and must be included in the loan file.
• The property will be the borrower's principal residence;

As previously announced by the Agencies, the newly updated 2021 loan limits are effective as of January 1^st.

The new 2021 general and high balance conventional loan limits are currently available for all conventional loans and can be found on FHFA’s Website.

VA will align with the FHFA’s 2021 county loan limits when calculating the maximum loan amount for loans closed on and after January 1st. As a reminder, these loan limits only apply to Vet/Non-Vet Joint Loans and VA loans where the Veteran does not have full entitlement available. These county loan limits can be found on VA’s Website. 

FHA’s 2021 Nationwide Forward Mortgage Limits are effective for case numbers assigned on and after 01/01/2021. Mortgage limits for individual counties can be found on HUD’s Website. Loans with Case Number Assignments dated prior to January 1^st may be eligible in certain circumstances.

Fairway Wholesale Lending is accepting locks effective immediately for all loans with 2021 loan limits that meet eligibility requirements. As a reminder, product changes on locked loans from a Jumbo program to an Agency product under the new 2021 loan limits are not permitted.

We are pleased to announce that we will be making the pricing specials offered in 2020 for Conventional loans permanent effective January 1, 2021. These positive adjustments will now be shown as an LLPA on our rate sheet.

Pricing Special Updates | Client Announcement 2020-12-31

In observance of the upcoming holidays, Fairway Wholesale Lending’s business hours are as follows:

• Thursday, 12/24 - Office Closes at 12pm CST
• Friday, 12/25  – Offices Closed
• Friday, 1/1  – Offices Closed
  

Reminder – National Holidays cannot to be included in business day counts.

Please be sure to communicate with your Regional Account Manager or Client Relationship Specialist (CRS) should you have any special needs during the holidays – as Fairway Wholesale Lending is committed to maintaining response times and meeting closing dates.   

The Fairway Wholesale Lending Team would like to wish you, your staff, and your family a very merry holiday season. We appreciate all the wonderful friendships and relationships that are the lifeline of our business and look forward to the opportunity to be a part of your success in 2021. 

We are pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) indexed ARM effective Wednesday, 12/23/2020.

With the retirement of the LIBOR-indexed ARM, FHLMC has transitioned to the SOFR-indexed ARM. Conforming and Super Conforming 5/6, 7/6 and 10/6 Month ARMs will be available on the eligible loan product offerings as follows:

• Freddie Mac Conforming
• Freddie Mac Home Possible

Lock Extension functionality is now available in Fairway’s Driver Portal for conventional and government fixed rate products.  With this enhancement, physical lock confirmations will still be delivered manually following the extension request through DRIVER.  Watch for our January release where you will see automated, instant lock confirmations!

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced yesterday the agency's new schedule of loan limits for calendar year 2021 for its Single Family Title II forward and Home Equity Conversion (reverse) Mortgage insurance programs.The new loan limits are effective for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2021.

In high-cost areas of the country, FHA’s loan limit ceiling will increase to $822,375 from $765,600. FHA will also increase its floor to $356,362 from $331,760. Additionally, the FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) maximum claim amount (HECM limits) for reverse mortgages will increase to $822,375 from $765,600.

Dear Valued Clients, 

Thank you for the business you’ve sent to us this month.  In order to insure smooth closings and fundings, Fairway would like to remind you of the following important dates:

• REFINANCES – in order to fund by 11/30, will need to close by Tuesday, 11/24, which means initial CD’s must be disclosed (and acknowledged) no later than NEXT FRIDAY, 11/20.
  
  
• PURCHASES – in order to fund by 11/30, initial CD’s must be disclosed no later than Wednesday, 11/25.
  
  

We encourage you to submit your CD request upon initial loan approval and work with your CRS to firm up closing dates.

Dear Valued Clients,

Fairway Wholesale Lending is now offering 60 day pricing for refinance business beginning Monday, October 19, 2020. 

Fairway's Underwriting Turn Times are posted daily in DRIVER and on the ratesheet. 

Fairway Wholesale Lending is excited to announce that we have partnered with Mercury Network to offer a new and improved Appraisal Ordering Platform inside of DRIVER!

This new release will provide all our clients a standardized appraisal ordering experience all in one place. In addition to the new platform, we are expanding our approved AMC list by adding 4 additional AMC’s. 

Effective today, Fairway Wholesale Lending is pleased to offer a 620 minimum credit score for all government products.  

We are excited to announce the latest enhancements to the DRIVER portal effective today!

Below is a list of these enhancements. Feel free to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.

• Once the “Save Loan Data” button has been clicked in any of the 1003 screens, the DRIVER header will refresh, reflecting any changes made to loan parameters.
   
• DRIVER Status Tracker will now update automatically to reflect the current loan status, including Initial Disclosure requests and CD Requests submitted through DRIVER. 

• The option to save documents in the View/Upload Documents screen has been changed for clarification. Prior to registration, the user will only have the option to upload documents and click on “Save for Later”. Once the loan has been registered, the “Save and Submit” button will appear on the View/Upload Documents screen.
  
  
• A “HELP” button is now available when Creating a Loan to troubleshoot issues when uploading the 3.2 file.

• User will now have the ability to re-import updated 3.2 files via DRIVER beyond initial disclosures being sent.

*** Helpful tip *** When first importing initial 3.2, an Estimated Closing Date must be selected as a future date. Ability to re-import future 3.2 files will be unsuccessful if this initial date is invalid and would require assistance from Help Desk before proceeding to re-import another 3.2. 

• Borrower’s mailing address will auto-populate with their current address if originally blank when the 3.2 file is uploaded into DRIVER. 

• User will now have the ability to delete and add new fees in Section F on the Loan Estimate screen in DRIVER.  

• Correspondent Loans: LO comp now defaults to Borrower Paid. 
  
  
• Correspondent Loans: Admin fee is no longer a default fee on the loan pricing screen. Correspondent now has the option to charge an Admin Fee to the borrower.

JUMBOS ARE BACK! Available beginning July 15, 2020. Here are the highlights:

As a reminder, Fairway Wholesale Lending is excited to be offering live training opportunities scheduled for the 3rd Tuesday of every month for our valued clients. We will demonstrate the best way to locate and use Fairway guidelines, matrices and various resources that are available to you. Knowledge Owl (KO) is the system in which Fairway's program guidelines are housed and are accessible by logging into DRIVER.

As stated in this week’s Fairway Connection, effective with loans submitted to underwriting on and after June 8, 2020, the following requirements have been made for conventional loans. Both FNMA (in LL-2020-03) and FHLMC (in Bulletin 2020-19)   have announced requirements for additional documentation to support the decision in the qualification process of self-employment.

Fairway Wholesale Lending is pleased to now offer 45-day lock periods on refinance transactions effective today, June 5, 2020. 

Fairway Wholesale Lending is happy to announce we’ve updated our government guidelines effective immediately. These guidelines apply to loans currently in the pipeline.

• FHA and VA cash out refinance transactions available

• 640 minimum credit score for all government transactions – purchase, rate/term refinance, cash out refinance and VA IRRRL

• 30 day locks available at time of application; 15 day locks on all refinance transactions available at Approval milestone

• Removal of DTI restrictions – follow AUS feedback

We are extending our Pricing Special for Purchase transactions through June 30, 2020. Improve your price for loan amounts that meet the following criteria: 

Dear Valued Clients –

Effective immediately, Fairway Wholesale Lending has removed the temporary COVID-19 policy related to Conventional Cash-Out Refinances and will begin accepting locks for Conventional Cash-out Refinance transactions.  Along with the reinstatement of the Conventional Cash-out Refinance program, Fairway is also lowering the minimum FICO to 620 for BOTH Conventional Rate-term Refinance and Cash-out Refinance transactions.

Dear Valued Clients –

Some enhancements have recently been made to the DRIVER portal allowing for an overall improved user experience. 

1. The Loan Estimate has been modified. These changes will eliminate the Broker Registration Form that was formerly required.

2. For our Correspondent Lenders, we have added a “Correspondent Purchase” loan action. This will enable the uploading of closed loan packages, any suspense conditions, and providing online access to view funding information.

We have created Reference Material to guide you through the changes. Click here for the DRIVER 5.15 Enhancement Guide. 

Fairway Wholesale Lending has removed the temporary COVID-19 policy related to refinance locks. Effective immediately, refinance transactions may be locked at any point and are no longer restricted to being in an APPROVED status.

Dear Valued Clients –

Due to the continued effects of COVID-19, Fairway has implemented guidance for customers that are or were in a COVID19/CARES Act related forbearance plan. This guidance applies to FNMA and FHLMC only at this time. Currently, there are no changes on government loan programs.

Effective 05/19/2020, the following guidance applies to all mortgage loans the borrower is obligated on, and all conventional transaction types. The reason for the borrower forbearance request, as well as any hardship, must be documented as overcome and not likely to recur. Any mortgage loan that has been, or is in forbearance will be analyzed as follows:

Due to the continued changes and challenges to the mortgage industry caused by COVID-19, effective Monday, May 4, 2020, Fairway Wholesale Lending is TEMPORARILY suspending Cash-Out Refinance Transaction for all loan types. 

Fairway will honor the locked pipeline of Cash-Out Refinance transaction and allow loans that have been delivered to Fairway Wholesale Lending for underwriting to be locked once the loan obtains the underwriting APPROVAL. 

Due to the rapidly changing environment to the mortgage lending industry caused by COVID-19, VA in Circular 26-20-13, has provided updated guidance and instruction for valuation and appraising for all VA home loan purposes. 

Below is updated guidance for termite inspections for VA purchase and cash-out refinance transactions:

Effective today, Fairway Wholesale Lending will allow refinance transactions to be locked at a minimum FICO of 680 for all loan programs.  Loans must still be in the APPROVED status. 

Fairway will continue to apply other temporary restrictions on refinance transactions (30 day lock period and Approved status). 

Due to the state and local shelter in place orders, the IRS has announced temporary suspension of IVES work. Effective immediately, IRS is not accepting tax transcript requests from lenders. 

Fairway will accept transcripts obtained by the Borrower(s) on an Exception Only basis. Please work with your underwriter for an exception. Borrower(s) can obtain their own Tax Transcripts directly online from the IRS website. 

In response to continued COVID-19 effects, Fairway will begin requiring 700 credit score on all refinance transactions effective Tuesday, 4/14/2020. 

As announced in Fannie Mae Release Notes dated April 6, 2020, during the weekend of April 11, 2020, Fannie Mae implemented the updates below to Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) Version 10.3.

Risk and Eligibility Assessment

Dear Valued Correspondent Clients –

Wednesday's (04/08/2020) COVID-19 VVOE Client Announcement did not address Fairway Wholesale Lending’s updated policy on VVOEs relative to Correspondent transactions.  This Client Announcement is to communicate the temporary COVID-19 VVOE requirements on Correspondent transactions.

• REVISED! VVOE prior to closing is required 7 days prior to the Note Date (Can be performed by Fairway OR Correspondent Client)
• REVISED! A SECOND VVOE will be performed by Fairway within 24 hours prior to Fairway purchase of closed loan

Due to the COVID-19 virus, the policy on VVOEs will be temporarily adjusted as follows:

• REVISED! VVOE prior to closing is required 7 days prior to the Note Date
• REVISED! A SECOND VVOE will be required within 24 hours of disbursement
• Funding Authorizations will be required on ALL loans

Due to the continued effects of COVID-19, Fairway Wholesale Lending is temporarily changing our lock policy for refinance transactions. 

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