Author: VanDyk Mortgage

2020 Payroll Calendar

Below you will find our 2020 schedule for payroll timeframes and pay dates. Should there be any questions please email payroll@vandykmortgage.com.

• 2020 Payroll Calendar
• 2020 Pay Dates

To better assist our branches, please see the below timeline, based on Estimated Closing Date, for CD deadlines during our upcoming holiday:

• ECDs for Tues, 11/12 will all need TRID Ready by Weds, 11/6 and CD disclosed and executed by Thursday, 11/7.
• ECDs for Weds and Thurs, 11/13 and 11/14, will all need TRID Ready by Thurs, 11/7 and CD disclosed and executed by Fri, 11/8.

Please note:  Monday, 11/11 is not a day for funding or business day for CD timing. Please plan accordingly for your refinances and purchases.

To better serve you, we have scheduled Open Enrollment Informational Sessions. Information regarding updates to the plans will be provided at the presentations to better equip you in electing your health benefits.  For the 2020 Plan year, we will continue to use BCBS.

A representative of Hylant (our Insurance Broker) will be presenting a webinar on November 11.  A live presentation is also scheduled on November 11 at the Grand Rapids Corporate office. The informational webinar will be recorded for your convenience.  A link to the recording will be provided at a later date. This will be stored on the Company’s intranet site. No registration is required for any of these sessions. Please see below for details.

The open enrollment period to elect your benefits via Paylocity begins on November 11 and ends on November 22.  Benefit summaries are below for those of you who would like to review in advance.

• VanDyk $2,500 SBC
• VanDyk $3,000 HSA SBC
• VanDyk $4,000 RC SBC
• VanDyk $2,500 BCBS Benefit Summary
• VanDyk HSA $3,000 Benefit Summary
• VanDyk $4,000 RC BCBS Benefit Summary
• VanDyk Dental BCBS Benefit Summary
• VanDyk Vision BCBS Benefit Summary

More information regarding enrolling via Paylocity will be provided at a later date.   Please note that pricing information will be shared as soon as it is available.

General Information Sessions:

Should you have questions, please contact Sarah Shilling at sshilling@vandykmortgage.com or Margarita Hays at mhays@vandykmortgage.com.

Updated 1:00PM EST

Updated 2:00PM EST

We are currently aware of 3 major system outages impacting us right now.   EllieMae and Microsoft are both actively working on the issues but unfortunately as of right now I do not have an ETA on resolution.

What to expect?

Email & Skype

You may experience a login prompt on email or Skype that you cannot get past even it states you are successful.    This includes getting prompted on your mobile devices.

We are currently at about 100 impacted users.

The issues are now reporting and testing as resolved.

Encompass

High Latency.  (More sluggish than normal when logging in, opening or saving loans.)

Issues with services such as ordering docs.

The issues are now reporting and testing as resolved.

We will update the team as more information becomes available to us.

As many of you may have heard, effective with FHA Case Numbers issued on or after October 15, 2019, lenders will have the ability to approve an FHA mortgage for a condominium in a project that is not on FHA’s Approved Condominium list.

To those who have been around long enough to remember FHA’s old Spot Condominium Approval Process… they have NOT revived that program.   This program requires the project must meet most all of FHA’s Condominium requirements and documentation guidelines for submitting to FHA for HRAP approval (AKA the Standard Program).  Two differences are, the project will be evaluated by VanDyk staff instead of HUD, AND the Single Unit program has additional restrictions and documentation requirements.

Below, please find the guidelines from the 4000.1 for Single Unit Approval along with the Single Unit Questionnaire created by FHA.   Also attached is the guidance for projects already on FHA’s approved list, Standard Condominium Approval Guidelines (provided mainly to show the situations when units require no approval).

• 4000.1 Standard Condo Guidelines
• single unit 4000.1 guidelines
• HUD-9991, (Condominium LL-SUA Questionnaire) 20190814 (1)

FHA CASE NUMBER:   Mortgagee Letter 2019-13  FHA obtaining case numbers for single unit condo approval contains the instructions for obtaining the FHA Case Number.    On FHA’s conference call on September 10^th they stated they are going to TRY to maintain a three business day turn time.     In addition to entering the information in FHA Connect, an email must be sent to answers@hud.gov with the information below, along with the total number of units in the project.     The branch will be ordering the FHA Case Number.

PROCEDURES AND FEES:  VanDyk Mortgage’s Condominium Department will obtain the documentation, perform the review and provide the Underwriting Decision.  The fee for this will be $300.    Please email condoapprovals@vandykmortgage.com and include the borrower name, loan number, and contact information for the HOA.   A valid FHA Case Number must be assigned before placing the order with the Condo Department.

ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS FOR SINGLE UNIT APPROVALS:  In addition to the Standard Program condominium guidelines, FHA’s restrictions for loans being approved under the Single Unit Approval Process include:

• Projects cannot be new construction.   Control must have transferred and Certificate of Occupancy must be over one year old.
• Projects cannot have had financial distress in the last three years
• Projects must contain more than 4 units.    Two to four unit projects are not eligible.
• Manufactured homes are not eligible for Single Unit approval.
• Projects cannot have commercial space exceeding 35%.  (there are exceptions under their Standard program).
• Project cannot contain any “Ineligible” Characteristics noted below:

Ineligible Characteristics

FHA will not approve Condominium Projects with the following characteristics:

• cooperative ownership;
• condominium hotel or condotel;
• mandatory rental pooling agreements that require Unit owners to either rent their Units or give a management firm control over the occupancy of the Units;
• timeshare or segmented ownership projects;
• multi-dwelling condominiums (more than one dwelling per Condominium Unit);
• houseboat project;
• continuing care facility;
• Coastal Barrier Resources System location; or
• Subject to adverse determination for significant issues as identified by FHA.

AUS ACCEPT:    TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard must be an Accept, or the loan must have a maximum LTV of 90 percent.

FANNIE V/S FHA:   For those familiar with FannieMae Full reviews, this new Single Unit Approval Process is similar, but more stringent, and can only be used for approval of one unit.  Below are some items that are more restrictive than Fannie/Freddie.  For complete guidelines, please refer to the 4000.1 Single Unit guidelines attached.

Financials that are more restrictive than Fannie/Freddie:  

• Reserves must be at least 10% of the total assessments without any adjustments.    Adjustments allowed by Fannie/Freddie such as pass through utilities, reserves, loan payments etc. are not allowed.
• Evaluation of a balance sheet and expense statement dated in the last 90 days and previous year-end financials is required.
• Project must show operating income that demonstrates a stable income stream over the past two years with decreases of no higher than 15%.
• Ability to cover the cost of insurance coverage and deductibles must be proven.
• Financial control requires the management company must have approval from the Condo Association to draft checks on, or transfer funds from the reserve account.   (NOTE:  This requirement will make a significant number of projects ineligible)
• If the project contains commercial space, the project must have clearly defined separate income and expense streams.  The commercial space must be financially independent from residential.   The same financial information required  for the residential units must be obtained for the commercial units.

Insurance requirements that are more restrictive than Fannie/Freddie: 

• Projects with a Coinsurance clause are not eligible unless there is an agreed amount endorsement or selection of a the agreed value option (which basically negates coinsurance).  Fannie/Freddie will allow if we document the coverage meets the cost to reconstruct.
• Fidelity Insurance coverage must be at a minimum the three months of dues PLUS the amount in the reserve account.  Fannie/Freddie allow 3 months dues if financial controls are in place.
• Flood insurance must be under the NFIP.    Private coverage is allowed by Fannie/Freddie.

In addition to documenting satisfactory flood insurance coverage, a flood elevation certificate must be obtained that shows the lowest floor, including the basement of the residential building(s), and all related improvements/equipment essential to the value of the property is built at or above the 100-year flood elevation in compliance with NFIP criteria.   Fannie/Freddie have no such requirements.

To better assist our branches, please see the below timeline, based on Estimated Closing Date, for CD deadlines during our upcoming holiday:

ECDs for Tues, 10/15 will all need TRID Ready by Weds, 10/9 and CD disclosed and executed by Thursday, 10/10.

ECDs for Weds and Thurs, 10/16 and 10/17, will all need TRID Ready by Thurs, 10/10 and CD disclosed and executed by Fri, 10/11.

Please note – Monday, 10/14 is not a day for funding. Please plan accordingly for your refinances and purchases.

Thank you, and please reach out to compliance@vandykmortgage.com with any questions or concerns!

USDA has announced that effective immediately, the payment calculation for Student Loans is being reduced from one percent of the outstanding balance to one-half percent of the outstanding balance.   Exceptions exist when the payment is fixed, interest rate is fixed and repayment term is fixed.

Our VDMC Student Loan Cheat Sheet has been revised to reflect this new guidance:

• Student Loan Cheat Sheet September 2019

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Temporary Modification of Section 11.2 of HB-1-3555 pertaining to Student Loans.

Effective today the below updated guidance, regarding the required student loan payment requirement, is implemented. This change pertains to the required payment to be utilized for Non-Fixed student loan repayment plans.

• Student loans. Lenders must include the payment as follows:
  • Fixed payment loans: A permanent amortized, fixed payment may be used in the debt ratio when the lender retains documentation to verify the payment is fixed, the interest rate is fixed, and the repayment term is fixed.
  • Non-Fixed payment loans: Payments for deferred loans, Income Based Repayment (IBR), Graduated, Adjustable, and other types of repayment agreements which are not fixed cannot be used in the total debt ratio calculation. The higher of one half percent (.50%) of the loan balance or the actual payment reflected on the credit report must be used as the monthly payment in the underwriter decision. No additional documentation is required.

This modification will be permanently incorporated into Chapter 11 of HB-1-3555 in the near future.

Thank you for your support of the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program!

Questions regarding this announcement may be directed to the National Office Division at: sfhgld.program@wdc.usda.gov or (202) 720-1452.

USDA LINC Training and Resource Library:

https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/lenders/usda-linc-training-resource-library

Help Resources

USDA ITS Service Desk Support Center

For e-Authentication assistance

Email: eAuthHelpDesk@ftc.usda.gov

Phone: 800-457-3642, option 1 (USDA e-Authentication Issues)

Rural Development Help Desk

For GUS system, outage or functionality assistance

Email: RD.HD@STL.USDA.GOV

Phone: 800-457-3642, option 2 (USDA Applications); then option 2 (Rural Development)