URLA/ULAD FAQ

The URLA (also known as the Freddie Mac Form 65/Fannie Mae Form 1003) 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 40 years in all U.S. states and territories.

The loan application relationship exists between the applicant(s) and the lender. The GSEs do not prescribe how the lender should interact with applicants or obtain loan application data.

The GSEs recommend that the interactive URLA components be downloaded and then opened using a PDF document reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat Pro^®. If the forms are opened within a web browser, the fillable PDF fields may lose some functionality and as a result, not perform as designed. The URLA was created using Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro, which was released in 2005. Updated versions of Adobe Acrobat software should be compatible with the redesigned URLA.

The GSEs have published the following supporting documents to their respective URLA webpages:

• URLA Rendering Design Options - guidance for rendering the updated interactive appearance and functionality of URLA components.
• URLA Instructions - directions for completing new URLA form fields and clarifying existing usage.
• ULAD Mapping Document - ties each data field on the URLA to its equivalent data point(s) in the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization Reference Model Version 3.4 (MISMO^® v3.4). ULAD is not a specification but can be used to familiarize organizations with the standard MISMO terms used to support the URLA.
• Translation Aids - non-executable versions of Form 65 / Form 1003 and translation aids in Spanish, traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog are available on our Multi-language Resources for Lenders and other housing professionals webpage.

The GSEs do not intend to require a lender to repurchase a mortgage loan started before the mandate date solely due to the lender’s use of the legacy AUS data format with the redesigned URLA (and vice versa). However, it is a lender’s responsibility to ensure the data used to underwrite and determine eligibility is accurately reflected in the transaction, and that the lender has otherwise complied with the terms of their contracts with the GSEs. Lenders must apply all policies that may or may not be represented on the new vs. old URLA form and included or not included in either of the GSE’s data file formats: MISMO v2.3.1, v2.4, v3.4 or the RLD 1003, v3.2 (1003 Flat File).

No, there is no “purchase by” date for seasoned loans in the legacy AUS formats to be delivered to either of the GSEs’ selling/delivery systems (Fannie Mae Loan Delivery / Freddie Mac Loan Selling Advisor^®). Loans are subject to all committing and delivery requirements for each respective GSE.

Yes, the list of Freddie Mac-approved software providers is available on our Software Partners webpage .

Fannie Mae no longer supports the 1003 Flat File. The GSEs are participating in and supporting the MISMO Loan Application Data Exchange Development Workgroup (iLAD) that has created and is maintaining an industry standard for data exchange of loan application information. This dataset includes the data points for the following:

• The complete dataset for the URLA Form (ULAD Mapping Document).
• Each of the updated AUS specs from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
• Other origination-oriented data deemed relevant by the workgroup.

The iLAD is a “superset” of loan application data based on MISMO v3.4 that includes all the data in the ULAD Mapping Document and the GSE AUS Specifications. iLAD also includes additional origination data points requested by the industry that may be needed for exchange of loan information. iLAD is agnostic to investor and business process so it does not include conditionality (rules) and cardinality (acceptable number of data repetitions). This is a driving factor behind why the iLAD Exchange File will not be accepted by the GSEs in place of their AUS submission files.

The SCIF is intended to help lenders capture information during the loan application process on borrower language preference and any homeownership education and housing counseling the borrower has received over the past 12 months.

The lender must present the SCIF to one borrower on the loan application and ask the borrower to provide a preferred language for completing the loan transaction. The borrower is not required to select any of the language options in the "Language Preference" section, including “I do not wish to respond.” For loans with multiple borrowers, the lender may determine whether to present the SCIF to more than one borrower and include more than one SCIF in the loan file. It is up to the lender to decide when to present the SCIF.

The GSEs have not changed any of their Guide requirements for homeownership education and housing counseling information collection. If the loan offered to the borrower(s) requires homeownership education or housing counseling information, the lender should complete the applicable SCIF section and fields.

One copy of the SCIF must always be provided in the loan file. In cases where the language preference question has not been completed by the borrower and homeownership education and housing counseling are not required by the loan program, the SCIF would include only the loan identifier and the borrower’s name.

The long lead time allows the GSEs, lenders, and other industry participants time to budget, plan and implement necessary changes. The GSEs have provided additional information about loan file requirements in a Fannie Mae Lender Letter and Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin. Lenders are invited to begin submitting SCIF data in their loan submission files at any time (see the SCIF announcement published on May 3, 2022).

The GSEs have published the following supporting documents to their web pages:

• SCIF in English
• Numbered SCIF — cross referenced form field names to the GSE’s AUS Specification data fields
• SCIF Instructions — updated directions for completing new SCIF form fields and clarifying existing usage
• SCIF Rendering Options — guidance for changing the appearance and functionality of the interactive (fillable PDF) SCIF
• Translation Aids — non-executable versions of Form 1103 translated from English to Spanish, traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog are available on each GSE’s Multi-language Resources for Lenders web pages.

Effective March 1, 2022, the GSE AUSs will no longer underwrite any loans in legacy AUS formats (for Fannie Mae MISMO v2.3.2 or 1003 Flat File and for Freddie Mac v2.4), regardless of start date or original AUS submission date.  The project is not officially over. Each GSE continues to:

• Answer lender and service provider questions sent to their ULAD mailboxes ([email protected] and [email protected])
• Update their AUSs as part of the normal product update process
• Make every attempt to align on requirements for new and updated data

Changes in the mortgage industry and the regulatory environment led the GSEs to reassess the information obtained at the time of loan origination. The URLA/ULAD initiative has the following objectives:

1. Update the URLA form to collect loan application information that is relevant and useful to the industry in making a loan underwriting decision, as well as update the physical format and layout to enhance the collection of information and usability of the form.
2. Develop and publish a corresponding standard dataset to support the URLA. The ULAD Mapping Document provides a cross reference for every field on the redesigned URLA to the equivalent data point(s) in the MISMO Version 3.4 Reference Model.
3. Publish GSE-specific AUS specs for DU and Loan Product Advisor updated to MISMO v3.4 and including the new URLA data fields

The GSEs began by interviewing a group of lenders and software providers to understand the current loan origination process and data flow, and to assess how the URLA is used today. This was followed by meetings with the government housing agencies (Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Affairs (VA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture – Rural Development (USDA-RD)) to understand their data needs. From this research, the project team drafted the first version of the redesigned URLA.

The project team continued to expand outreach to other lenders, software providers, Ginnie Mae, CFPB, mortgage insurance companies, the trade associations, housing advocates, and consumer groups to obtain feedback on the several iterations of the proposed redesigned URLA and the associated AUS specs. All of this feedback was reviewed by the project team and most was incorporated into subsequent versions of the redesigned URLA.

The GSEs serve the entire mortgage industry from the smallest bank to the largest, most sophisticated lending and servicing operations. We have heard from many small to midsize lenders and credit unions that still need a paper form to collect and present loan application information from and to the borrower.

The length of the redesigned URLA will vary depending on the number of borrowers, the type of loan and the type of transaction. The form allows borrowers to indicate which sections of the application may not apply and which may also impact the page length. The URLA Rendering Design Options Document provides additional formatting guidance for software providers and lenders to tailor production of the form according to their system capabilities.

In order to support the redesigned URLA, many modifications were necessary to MISMO v3.3, which were incorporated into MISMO v3.4. If MISMO v3.3 had been selected, extensive use of EXTENSIONS would have been necessary.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) determined that the redesigned URLA is not the appropriate vehicle to collect data on a borrower’s preferred language or information on housing counselling. This information is now collected on the SCIF form. The data collected on the URLA is based on two principles: