The new URLA is coming for real

September 15, 2020

Last few newsletters, we talked about what is going on in the industry here and now. This week, we want to look forward and talk about one of the things that is going to impact all of us - the new URLA. Yes it is coming finally and this time for real.

What is the new URLA? The URLA (also known as the Freddie Mac Form 65 / Fannie Mae Form 1003) as we know is a standardized document used by borrowers to apply for a mortgage. The URLA is jointly published by the GSEs and has been in use for more than 20 years in all U.S. States and Territories. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have come up with a redesigned URLA to improve borrower and lender experience. Along with this GSEs also created a Uniform Loan Application Dataset (ULAD) to show how Form 1003 is mapped to MISMO v3.4 data. The final updated form which is available in GSE websites has a cleaner look, is dynamic (boxes increase in size as you type more text), has clearer instructions and neatly separates borrower and lender information. I like the design. Looks like they finally invested in a designer. Lenders using the GSE's URLA form can take advantage of this cleaner design to provide better borrower experience.

But the bigger reason why lenders need to take note of this and act is that GSEs have updated the DU specifications that lenders need to follow to submit the loan packages to them. This is a must to sell the loans to GSEs once the new URLA and the associated changes come into effect. So take note of the timeline and be ready for the change.

Key dates:

  • Limited Production - Aug 1, 2020

  • Open Production - Jan 1, 2021

  • Must Adapt - March 1, 2021

In other news, National Mortgage News published its annual list of Best Mortgage Companies to work for. Check if your company is in the list. If not, you got work to do - doesn't matter if you are topping the charts in terms of loan volume and profits.

It's the NFL season. So a quick NFL questions. What is the one mortgage company that is among the official sponsor list of NFL 2020? (Hint: Given the cost it takes to sponsor, typically only the top companies in any product category can afford to be associated with NFL).

Cheers for a great week ahead.

Fannie Mae has created a new Desktop Underwriter Specification for submission of Form 1003, or Uniform Residential Loan Application.

National Mortgage News presents the second annual Best Mortgage Companies to Work For — a survey and awards program dedicated to identifying and recognizing the industry's best employers and providing organizations with valuable employee feedback.

Find the one mortgage company in NFL official sponsor list.