Fannie Mae Single Family
2012 Servicing Guide
March 14, 2012
Fannie Mae Copyright Notice
(1) 2012 Fannie Mae. No part of this Servicing Guide may be reproduced in any form or by any means without Fannie Maes prior written permission, except as may be provided herein or unless otherwise permitted by law. Limited permission to download and/or print a copy of the PDF version of this Servicing Guide from Fannie Mae-controlled Web sites is granted solely for internal business purposes, which permission Fannie Mae may revoke in its sole discretion. Limited permission to reproduce this Servicing Guide in print in whole or in part and limited permission to distribute electronically parts of this Servicing Guide are granted to Fannie Mae-approved servicers strictly for their own use in the servicing of mortgage loans for Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae may revoke these limited permissions by written notice to any or all Fannie Mae-approved servicers.
Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
A full version of the Servicing Guide is also available for viewing on the AllRegs Web site of Mortgage Resource Center, Inc., (MRC), which posts the Servicing Guide under license from and with the express permission of Fannie Mae. If there should ever be a difference between the Servicing Guide as it appears on the AllRegs Web site and this version, the difference is an error. In such event, this version shall be deemed the correct authoritative version. Material discrepancies between the two versions, identified by Fannie Mae or otherwise brought to our attention, may be addressed by Announcement.
(2) Disclaimer: You acknowledge and agree (individually and on behalf of the entity for which you are accessing the Servicing Guide) that you (and the entity for which you are accessing the Servicing Guide) may not make any claim against Fannie Mae for any errors, and Fannie Mae shall not be liable to you (or the entity for which you accessing the Servicing Guide) for any losses or damages whatsoever resulting directly or indirectly from any errors.
Foreword
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Servicing Guide Foreword This update of the Servicing Guide (Guide) includes the incorporation of all Guide Announcements (defined below) issued September 1, 2010, through September 2, 2011. Announcements issued after September 2, 2011, must be retained and referred to until they are included in the Guide in a future update.
Amendments to the Servicing Guide
Fannie Mae may at any time alter or waive any of the requirements of its Guide, impose other additional requirements, or rescind or amend any and all material set forth in its Guide. The servicer must make sure that its staff is thoroughly familiar with the content and requirements of the Guide as it now exists and as it may be changed from time to time.
The Guide is amended periodically through the issuance of Announcements, Lender Letters, and Notices that introduce new or modified policies and/or provide clarifications, special guidance, and updates to documents posted on eFannieMae.com. Fannie Mae communicates its Single-Family servicing policies and processes in the following ways:
Announcements Describe new, supplemental, or modified policies and procedures and amend the Guide or documents posted on eFannieMae.com. Announcements are numbered as: SVC-2012-##.
Lender Letters Announce new or modified policies and procedures that are not documented in the Guide, such as policy changes that are temporary in nature (initiatives or pilots), reminders of existing policies, upcoming Guide updates, or updates to documents posted on eFannieMae.com. Lender Letters are numbered as: LL-2012-##.
Notices Provide information that servicers need but that does not require an update to the text in the Guide, such as updates to documents posted on eFannieMae.com. Notices can be identified by the date published (and are not numbered).
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Foreword
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Announcements, Lender Letters, and Notices are incorporated into the Guide by reference, and as such, are legally binding.
Lender Letters and Notices are not included in the Guide but continue to be in effect and legally binding until any sunset date specified in the Lender Letter or Notice or until amended by a subsequent Lender Letter, Notice, or Announcement.
Notification of Changes and Servicing Guide Updates
Fannie Mae notifies servicers of changes and updates to its Guide policies and proceduresas communicated in Announcements, Lender Letters, and Noticesin two ways:
by posting the documents on eFannieMae.com and the AllRegs Web sites, and
by e-mail notification of those postings to servicers that subscribe to Fannie Maes e-mail subscription service and select the option Servicing News.
Fannie Mae does not mail printed copies of Guide updates, Announcements, Lender Letters, or Notices. Servicers that want printed copies may download and print PDF files of the documents posted on eFannieMae.com.
Forms, Exhibits, and Content Incorporated by Reference
Information about the specific forms that servicers must use in fulfilling the requirements contained in the Guide is provided in context within the Guide. Servicers can access the actual forms in several ways:
eFannieMae.com via the Single Family page; and
the AllRegs Web site via embedded links in the free electronic version of the Guide (and through a searchable database with a full subscription to AllRegs Online).
Some materials are only referenced in the Guide and are posted in their entirety on eFannieMae.com. In addition, from time to time, Fannie Mae
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Foreword
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issues specific guidance, which is incorporated into the Guide by reference. Such specific informationwhether it currently exists or is subsequently createdand the exhibits referenced in the Guide now or later are legally a part of this Guide.
Conceptual Organization
Conceptually, this Guide covers the standard requirements for servicing all Fannie Mae-owned or Fannie Mae-securitized one- to four-unit mortgage loans. In developing the Guide, Fannie Mae considered the various interrelationships that have an effect on how a particular requirement should be interpreted or on how a specific procedure should be implemented, recognizing that the interrelationships do not always conform to hard and fast rules.
Content Organization
This Guide is organized into 12 parts; each part is summarized below:
Part I Lender Relationships references the process for becoming a Fannie Mae-approved servicer of residential home mortgage loans, describes the terms of the servicers contractual relationship with Fannie Mae, discusses the ongoing obligations a servicer must meet to maintain its eligibility as a Fannie Mae-approved servicer, and defines a servicers general business obligations.
Part II Mortgage and Property Insurance discusses a servicers responsibility for ensuring that any mortgage insurance, hazard or flood insurance, or any special insurance coverages Fannie Mae requires are maintained in a way that will at all times protect Fannie Maes interest in the mortgages serviced for Fannie Mae.
Part III General Servicing Functions discusses the general administrative functions involved in servicing first and second mortgage loans that occur on an ongoing basis, as well as a few functions that are unique to a particular type of mortgage loan or to a special, nonrecurring circumstance. These functions may begin when mortgage loan payment records are established for a new mortgage loan and often continue until a mortgage loan is paid off, repurchased, or otherwise removed from Fannie Maes records.
Foreword
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Part IV Special Adjustable-Rate Mortgage Loan Functions discusses those special loan administration functions related to the required periodic monthly payment and interest rate changes for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and graduated-payment adjustable-rate mortgages (GPARMs).
Part V Special Reverse Mortgage Loan Functions the content of this part can be found in the Fannie Mae Reverse Mortgage Loan Servicing Manual on eFannieMae.com.
Part VI Mortgage Loan Removals or Reclassifications discusses the servicers responsibilities when a mortgage is removed from Fannie Maes accounting records or an MBS pool because the borrower pays it off, the servicer or the originating lender repurchases it, Fannie Mae automatically reclassifies it as a portfolio mortgage (in order to remove a delinquent mortgage from an MBS pool), or Fannie Mae authorizes the servicer to assign it to HUD (under special assignment procedures available for certain FHA Section 221 mortgages).
Part VII Delinquency Management and Default Prevention describes Fannie Maes requirements and procedures for servicing whole mortgage loans, participation pool mortgage loans, and MBS mortgage loans from the time they first become delinquent or default is deemed to be reasonably foreseeable (imminent) through the development of special relief measures or foreclosure prevention alternatives to avoid foreclosure proceedings.
Part VIII Foreclosures, Conveyances and Claims, and Acquired Properties describes Fannie Maes requirements and procedures for conducting foreclosure proceedings, conveying properties to the insurer or guarantor, filing claims under the insurance or guaranty contract, and disposing of acquire
