Spring forward with the latest Loan Product Advisor® (LPASM) news as we announce March’s releases and give you an early view into April’s releases. There’s a lot coming your way in both months – so we’re announcing the updates now so you can work efficiently by planning ahead and preparing.

March Loan Product Advisor Releases

March releases include:

  • A new requirement of a minimum 12-month seasoning period for mortgages being paid off with proceeds of a cash-out refinance mortgage. This aligns with a policy update announced in Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2022-25.
  • Availability of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Technology Open To Approved Lenders (TOTAL) data point to reflect positive rental history.
  • Revised logic to include liabilities with partial months between 10 and 11.

April Loan Product Advisor Releases

Many of April’s releases are included in the publication of the new LPA specification version 5.3.00, targeting March 21, 2023. The releases include:

  • LPA feedback response enhancements:
    • Update to the Affordable Product Information section to display the area median income (AMI) and AMI percentage
    • New Freddie Mac Home Possible® eligibility banner
    • Capability to display up to seven program identifiers
    • New values for collateral representation and warranty relief (R&W) that could be returned in the LPA assessment
    • Rename "Secondary Financing" field name label to “Total Subordinate Financing”
  • Functionality enhancements
    • Adjustment to the requirement to link owned mortgage assets to liabilities to not require a link for excluded liabilities
    • Updates to calculations in LPA to fully leverage data points added in specification v5.n
    • Update to append a unit designator “#” to the beginning of the unit identifier
    • Consistency updates to the borrower’s name display
    • Removal of the duplicate income type filter
    • New data points and message updates to support the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) policy expansion

For more information on the enhancements coming in version 5.3.00, check out our specification preview article and be on the lookout for the updated specification release on March 21.

Read full details in the March and April LPA release notes.

Data Quality Message Improvements

In April, we’re also revising multiple feedback messages related to data quality to provide clarity on what information we are requiring from the borrower. These messages were previously communicated on February 9

Check out the full list of March 2023 feedback messages and April 2023 feedback messages.

Additional Feedback Message Updates

The latest feedback message updates help you underwrite loans more quickly and effectively by clearly communicating submission errors. We’re revising, adding and retiring messages related to the following:

  • LPA asset and income modeler (AIM) employment and income – effective April 14, 2023, messages are being revised and retired to reflect current IRS filing date requirements.
  • High needs rural region and rural area – effective May 1, 2023, messages are being added to notify you when the provided address is located in a high needs rural region or rural area.
  • COVID-19 policy – effective May 1, 2023, we’re retiring the remaining COVID-19 temporary overlays.

Click here to view these message updates or visit the Loan Advisor Resources and Learning web page.

A New Way to Check the Status of Our Tools

We’ve integrated our Freddie Mac tools System Status page into the Technology section of our Single-Family website to centralize information. Check it out here.