Today, the FHA Commissioner issued a Special Edition announcement that, in pertinent part, temporarily extends FHA-approval of currently approved loan correspondents for the purpose of permitting existing loans in the loan correspondents’ pipelines to close in their names, with conditions. According to the announcement, this temporary extension applies only to loans for which, as of December 31, 2010: “(1) HUD has issued a firm commitment for insurance; or “(2) A DE underwriter has approved the borrower for such loan (i.e. the lender has received and accepted approval via TOTAL Scorecard or has manually underwritten the loan). “This approval includes the DE underwriter review and approval of the appraisal. Loans eligible for this waiver must close by March 31, 2011. The FHA approval of all Loan Correspondents for all other purposes will expire on December 31, 2010. All other pipeline loans that do not meet these criteria and have not closed prior to January 1, 2011, must close in the name of an approved FHA Lender/Sponsoring Lender.” For a complete explanation of this extension and other matters addressed, please read the attached December 20, 2010 Special Edition by David H. Stevens, Assistant Secretary for Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner.
