Mortgage giant Freddie Mac is nixing an unpopular idea with quiet plans to scale back its $7,500 low activity fee on mortgage servicers.
Over the next couple of days, the government-sponsored enterprise will publicly announce the assessment plan, a source familiar with the exchange proceedings told HousingWire.
“The outcry over the fees from smaller lenders was huge. Freddie Mac listened and decided they don’t want to lose that business connection,” said the source.
The GSE will only charge mortgage servicers that have not sold a loan to Freddie Mac in the last 36 months or those that are not currently servicing Freddie loans.
In May, the enterprise told mortgage servicers to expect a $7,500 fee for not selling at least $5 million in unpaid principal balance per year to the GSE.
These are mortgages Freddie uses as collateral for bond issuance.
The fee is new to the enterprise and far outstrips similar fees at Fannie Mae.
“The low activity fee will support our risk management efforts and offset the costs incurred to maintain Seller/Servicers, and monitor their continuing compliance with our eligibility requirements,” Freddie Mac said in its Seller/Servicer requirements.
The fees will be levied based on 2013 performance, with servicers getting the bill in January 2014.
