FNMA implemented several enhancements to DU over the weekend of April 17, 2021.

The changes in this release include the following:

  • Message change when employer name in DU is not matched to the employer in the Income and Employment Verification Report (VOI/E)
  • Asset validation changes
  • DU validation service message change

Message change when employer name in DU is not matched to employer name on the Employment and Income Verification Report:

When the employer name in DU does not match the employer name on the VOI/E report, the DU validation service returns a message with the employer name from the VOI/E report listed as “Missing.”  In order to provide more details about what is observed in the VOI/E report, this message will be updated as follows:

  • The employer name(s) observed in the VOI/E report will be displayed, instead of the word “Missing”, and 
  • The reason given for employment not being validated will be provided

Asset validation changes Asset validation when gift funds exist

Currently, when a Verification of Assets (VOA) report has been obtained by DU, and gift funds are entered in DU, the DU validation service will not attempt to validate assets.  In these cases, DU will issue a message indicating that the loan is not eligible for asset validation because the loan includes a gift.

For casefiles created on or after April 18, 2021, when a VOA has been obtained for a borrower, and gift funds are entered in DU, the DU validation service will attempt to validate assets.  If the VOA report indicates the borrower has enough assets in their accounts to cover the Total Funds to be Verified, the DU validation service will issue the following messages:

  • The existing DU validation service message indicating that assets have been validated and the asset report is acceptable documentation,
  • A new message that requires verification that the gift is from an eligible source if the gift funds have been deposited in the borrower’s asset accounts, and 
  • The existing DU message that is displayed on all loans with gifts that require documentation and verification of the gift in accordance with the Selling Guide.
  • NOTE: When the DU validation service validates assets on transactions with gift funds, the lender must ensure that gift funds that appear as deposits on the VOA report (if any) are from an acceptable source and are eligible for the transaction.

Review of assets when no asset verification required

Currently, when a VOA report has been obtained by DU and the Total Funds to be Verified amount is $0.00, the DU validation service will issue a message indicating that the casefile is not eligible for asset validation.  With this update, a new message will be displayed to indicate that an eligible VOA report has been obtained and the loan may be eligible for asset validation if the amount of assets required increases and the loan is resubmitted to DU.

Message about large deposits

The DU validation service automates the assessment of large deposits on purchase transactions.  When a large deposit needs to be documented, DU will issue a message.  The current message notifying lenders of a large deposit may be issued more than once as it is issued for each large deposit that is required to be documented.  To simplify the identification of large deposits, the existing message will be replaced with a message in table format with each large deposit displayed in the table.

DU validation service messages changes

Message placement

To improve clarity and organization of the DU validation service messages in the DU findings, the placement of messages in the DU findings will be modified as defined below.  This change will apply to all loans submitted or resubmitted on or after April 18, 2021.

  • Messages indicating whether a VOI/E report, a Tax Transcript or a VOA report has been obtained will be moved from the “Employment and Income” section to the “Verification Messages/Approval Conditions” section.
  • Messages related to receipt of a VOA report will be moved from the “Verification Messages/Approval Conditions” section to the “Assets” section.

Updates to column headers in message tables.  Some column headers in the DU validation service messages will be updated to provide consistency and clarity as defined below.  This change will apply to all loans submitted or resubmitted on or after April 18, 2021.

Current Column Name New Column Name
Vendor Match (for employment validation messages)
Employer Name(s) in Report
Vendor Match (for income validation messages)
Income Source from Report

Retirement of duplicate messages

Two messages which appear in the Assets section of the DU findings, but which are duplicated by other DU validation service messages will be retired.

Please contact your Account Executive for further questions.

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