The Department of Housing and Urban Development made changes to FHA’s systems that alter the way lenders execute post-approval updates and complete FHA’s annual recertification process.
The communication and delivery methods for reporting business changes to FHA and for submitting a lender’s annual recertification package discussed in sections 4060.1 and REV-2 of the HUD Handbook are now impacted by the new Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP), deployed May 27.
The substance of the remaining policies contained in chapters 4 and 6 of Handbook 4060.1 remain unchanged.
LEAP allows lenders to self-update their institution and branch profile information. LEAP also automates the process for requesting business changes and notifications required by Chapter 6 of HUD Handbook 4060.1 and Mortgagee Letters 2009-31, 2010-38, and 2011-34. These changes include corporate officer changes, voluntary withdrawal, notification of material events, adding branches, mergers, and branch bulk transfers and acquisitions.
“Accordingly, all requests for business changes, notifying FHA of any events described in the above referenced Mortgagee Letters and the corresponding upload of supporting documents must all be completed using LEAP,” HUD advises.
All activities associated with FHA’s annual recertification process have been transitioned to LEAP. This includes completion of the online certifications, financial data submissions and the payment of recertification fees.
All HUD-approved Title I and Title II supervised, nonsupervised, and investing lenders and mortgagees must provide financial information to HUD on an annual basis. Unless requested, government mortgagees are not required to submit such information.
FHA has replaced the Data Collection Form with Audit Related Questions. Both the Audit Related Questions and Financial Data Templates have been restructured by lender type.
“Based on lender type and financial information provided in the lender’s previous filings, the LEAP system will direct lenders to the correct Audit Related Questions and Financial Data Template for the lender’s reporting structure,” HUD says.
All FHA approved lenders and mortgagees were notified of program updates via Mortgagee Letter 2014-09, published May 27 and effective immediately in conjunction with the deployment of LEAP.
LEAP was expected to go earlier this month, but its launch date was delayed. Lenders with a December 2013, January 2014, or February 2014 fiscal year end must complete all recertification steps in LEAP no later than 30 days from May 27.
The Mortgagee Letter can be accessed here.
Written by Cassandra Dowell
