There have been some recent updates in Loan Closing Advisor® and Loan Selling Advisor® (with more coming soon), designed to enhance your loan delivery process. Here’s what’s new:

Loan Closing Advisor

Effective October 28, we’ve revised certain Loan Closing Advisor critical feedback messages to include logic from the warning messages added in our October 5 release. Those warning messages are being retired and the updated critical messages will be displayed when the submitted Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Average Prime Offer Rate (APOR) and Regulation Z Total Loan Amount datapoints are less than or equal to zero.

Incorrect values for these datapoints, could keep your loans from being eligible for purchase. These messages will help you identify and resolve issues related to these datapoints in your Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) XML file prior to delivery.

Loan Selling Advisor

We’ve made some recent updates and have more coming in November and early 2022. We’re also providing an opportunity for an upcoming webinar. Here’s more information:

Cash-Released XChange Enhancements

Manage Buyer Preferences in XChange Center

Effective October 12, 2021, we retired the manual process for Sellers to maintain their own Cash-Released XChange® Servicing Buyer preferences. Now, a Seller's delegated administrator can provision access to our new tool, the XChange CenterSM (located under "Quick Links" in Freddie Mac Loan Advisor®), through Freddie Mac Access Manager. Sellers may use XChange Center to set pricing preferences for one or more of their eligible Servicing buyers. Refer to XChange Center – Sellers Online Help for access to all of our job aids and other training on features available in XChange Center.

U.S. Bank as a Document Custodian Option

Effective November 1, 2021, U.S. Bank will join Bank of NY Mellon (BNYM) as a document custodian through which you can certify your notes when you sell through Cash-Released XChange. Learn more about your document custodian options and beginning November 1, this resource will contain a link to the Document Custodian Options for Cash-Released XChange job aid. Note: If you prefer to continue using BNYM, you don’t need to take any action.

Servicing Buyer Addition

In early 2022, Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (Mass Housing) will be joining Cash-Released XChange as a new servicing buyer. We’ll formally announce the specific date of Mass Housing’s availability as a new servicing buyer in early 2022.

Improvements for Cash Specified Payups

As announced in Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2021-27, effective October 12, 2021, the daily cash-specified payup grid published through Loan Selling Advisor has been retired. The value of the Cash Specified Payup is now included in the mandatory fixed-rate note-rate level prices when creating a Freddie Mac price sheet or taking out a cash contract.

Also, as announced on September 14, 2021, the new $250K LLB Cash Specified Payup is now available.

Learn more about payups for fixed-rate mortgages with certain loan characteristics and review our FAQs for more details.

As a reminder, on November 5, 2021, at 5 p.m. ET, our pre-release customer test environment (CTE) will be closing indefinitely for maintenance, and our Loan Selling Advisor production baseline test environments will be updated with these functional changes on November 8.

Enhancements to Freddie Mac Refi Possible

As announced in Guide Bulletin 2021-33, we are updating Refi PossibleSM mortgage requirements to allow more borrowers to take advantage of the current low interest rate market.

Effective immediately, we are expanding the eligibility of Refi Possible by:

  • Removing the requirement that the monthly payment (i.e., the borrower’s first lien monthly principal, interest and mortgage insurance, if applicable) be reduced by at least $50. However, a reduction in the monthly payment, as described above, is still required (without the prescribed minimum amount) along with a reduction of at least 50 basis points in interest rate
  • Removing the $5,000 limit on the amount of proceeds of the Refi Possible mortgage that may be used to pay closing costs

The applicable Loan Product Advisor® feedback messages will be updated at a future date. Until then, Sellers may disregard the feedback messages that contradict the changes described above.

In January 2022 we will further expand the eligibility of Refi Possible by:

  • Increasing borrower income eligibility from 80% to 100% of the area median income
  • Removing the requirement that the mortgage being refinanced be seasoned no more than 120 months. The minimum 12-month seasoning requirement will continue to apply

Upcoming Webinar with Black Knight on Guarantor Execution

Join Freddie Mac and Black Knight, on November 17, 2021, as we examine the steps and the best practices to make a successful leap to a securitization delivery model. We’ll look at process optimization with Black Knight’s CompassPointSM risk management solution and required data and processes within Loan Selling Advisor. Learn more and register here.