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April 15, 2022

• Production Support: Department Update

We are pleased to announce the addition of Kristine Kuss to the Production Support team!  Kris has been with VanDyk for nearly 8 years and her experience in processing and underwriting along with her extensive knowledge of the VanDyk systems will bring another level of service to the department.  Please be sure to email productionsupport@vandykmortgage.com or complete a support ticket should you need assistance.  Our menu of services and other details are attached.

 

• Brokered Loans: New Lender and Reminder

Flagstar Bank

We will be adding Flagstar to our approved broker partner list for their one time close construction option.  They have renovation loan options as well. Training information will be forthcoming.

Disclosing Brokered Loans

As a reminder, our best practice is to keep all broker loans as TBD in Encompass.  Once the Lender has disclosed the loan and we have confirmed the package is signed, the address will be added to your Encompass file and the loan milestone moved to the next applicable stage.  In an effort to reduce unnecessary compliance issues and headaches, you will not be able to enter a subject address on any purchase transaction when the broker purchase template is applied to your Encompass file.  This is totally OK, the address will be added to the file for you once the loan has been reviewed, approved to be brokered, gone through any needed prequalification steps and disclosed by the lender.  Please contact productionsupport@vandykmortgage.com with questions.

 

• Extended Lock Policy Update

We are now offering lock periods up to 330 days. Updated Extended Lock Policy is attached. This policy has been revised to only be available on Primary residences, and now includes some state restrictions.

• Extended lock policy is not available in MS, NY, NC and WA.

 

• Condo Approvals: Update

As we work to continuously improve our Condo Processes and customer experience, we will begin utilizing our long-time condo underwriting partner Interisland for underwriting of all our Condo Reviews.  This change will allow us to offer the processing of the document collection once again in the condo department effective April 25, 2022.

To identify condos earlier and avoid delays in this purchase driven market, we are asking for the “Condo Screening Date” to be entered into the Borrower Summary screen at time of Processing Intake or as soon as we have a purchase agreement.

Updated fees for condos are as follows:

InterIsland:

Limited Reviews – $150

Full Reviews – $250

New Construction / New Construction Conversion – $600

Processing – $150 plus any fees incurred in gathering the documents.

 

• USDA Asset Reserves

During a recent USDA audit, the overstatement of reserves entered into GUS was cited on multiple loan files.  In an effort to prevent this from happening in the future, we are expanding the platform in which this information is shared to be companywide.  For depository accounts, we MUST use the lesser of the current balance or previous month’s ending balance when entering assets into GUS.  Attached you will find the HB-1-3555 Attachment 9-A Page 28 of 28.  Please review the guidance and requirements to be applied to the borrower’s reserves to ensure proper asset figures are submitted to GUS.

 

• Chenoa Fund: Changes/Suspension

Chenoa will be consolidating their FHA programs into one program called the Chenoa Fund FHA.  Pending the official launch, we are suspending FHA Chenoa Loans effective April 29, 2022, for a short duration of time to get ahead of the changes.  Watch for further updates and re-launch in May.

 

• VA Form 26-1805

VA Form 26-1805 has been updated to include information pertaining to recent changes in ordering an appraisal. The request includes sufficient information for the VA fee panel appraisers to complete the appraisal. Specifically, more points of contact are being requested for setting the appointment and a better explanation of the assignment and property types. This form is critical in the further development of increased transparency as VA enhances automation for appraisers to issue Tidewater notices, set appointments to review the property, and provide notification that the property has been reviewed.  WebLGY will replace the prior version of this form.  This is informational only and will not change the upfront processes.

 

• SimpleNexus

Please continue utilizing SNTeam@vandykmortgage.com for your SimpleNexus questions and feedback.

We have compiled our daily Howee’s Helpful SimpleNexus tips into a folder here. Ask Howee for SimpleNexus tips and he’ll link you to them!

 

• FL Housing Changes

With NEW loan reservations dated 04/04/22, the FL Assist Second Mortgage will be $10,000 for both government and conventional loans. Conventional loans reserved in the pipeline prior to 04/04/22 will honor the $7,500 FL Assist amount. Lender guidelines are available to review at eHousingPlus – Florida Housing.

• Asset Documentation Requirements & AUS Reminder

Fannie Mae updated asset documentation requirements for certain refinances in DU. Assets will not have to be documented when the funds required to be verified are $500 or less. If your refi is eligible, DU will issue a message specifying that assets do not need to be verified.

Reminder: Follow your AUS – especially with regards to assets/funds to close.

 

• Contract Dates

To stand out in this new purchase market, we are renewing our focus of upcoming Contract Dates and doing everything in our power to close loans by these dates – and if we cannot, that all parties are aware why one had to be extended.  We have invested in the ability to monitor our performance towards this goal, so we need your help in making sure that the correct dates are entered in the appropriate fields as described below.

• • Contract Effective Date: Date the contract goes into effect – depending on the contract verbiage, the effective date may be several days after the contract was agreed to by all parties, to accommodate inspections or other agreed upon requirements (not addendum/extension, initial accepted contract)
  • Contract Closing Date: AKA ECD – settlement deadline, the date the documents are to be signed (not necessarily the funding date)
  • Contract Commitment/Financing Deadline Date: Financing deadline – may not apply in all states. However, if applicable, this is the date the loan must be conditionally approved by.
  • Contract Appraisal Deadline: If the purchase contract has an appraisal contingency or deadline, enter that date here.

• SimpleNexus eClosing Portal

The Simple Nexus Closing Portal is now being utilized for all closing packages. This portal is primarily for the Settlement Agents to download/upload closing documents and will not impact our current workflow for Traditional (Wet Sign) Closings.

This closing portal does support Hybrid eClosing which we are currently beta testing. A hybrid eClosing will allow the borrower(s) to eSign up to 90% of the closing package via the VanDyk Mobile App on the day of closing prior to the actual closing appointment with the settlement agent. We will have more information on the hybrid eClose procedures in the coming weeks.

• Technology Update: Encompass DocViewer

The Tech Committee is excited to announce the rollout of the new Encompass document viewer with cloud storage. It brings significant performance and security enhancements to the Encompass eFolder related to the uploading, viewing, and editing of loan attachments. The new doc viewer eliminates the limitations and issues that occurred with the original Adobe based viewer.  Only files created after the viewer is enabled on April 19th will display in the new doc viewer.  Existing files created prior to the rollout will still display in the old Adobe based viewer.

New Features Overview

• Bookmark navigation panel for navigating through pages in a PDF file.
• Faster loading time for multi-page files. The first page loads immediately so viewing can begin. Other pages load in the background.
• Make multiple edits within a file attachment and save the changes from inside the document viewer.
• The proprietary Print window used in the old document viewer has been replaced with a standard browser Print window.
• Ability to increase or decrease the size of the page thumbnails when editing a file in the viewer.
• Text search capabilities within file attachments.
• Files can now be edited from the thumbnail panel.
• The View Original button has been replaced with a Download Button that provides options to save the original file or the most recent edited version of the file to your computer.

Did You Know?

Paylocity – Send an Impression

As a reminder, Impressions within Paylocity are a great way to recognize your teammates for helping out, doing a favor, or going above and beyond.

Visit Paylocity to send and view Impressions – for when a “thank you” just doesn’t feel like enough.

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Reminder: Suggestion Box

Do you have an idea to improve our workflow, or a change in Encompass that you would like to see and will also help your colleagues? We want to hear from you!

The Suggestions Inbox is LIVE and available to everyone at https://suggestionsbox.vdmc.net/

Please submit your ideas! Suggestions are reviewed weekly by management and we are looking for suggestions with 5 or more votes. Any suggestion implemented as a business improvement that was upvoted by peers or accepted by management will win a $50 gift card.

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Reminder: Protected Docs

(from February Lending Announcement)

E-Folder documents will become “protected” and unable to be edited by staff once an Underwriter marks a document “Ready to Ship”.

Those documents in “Ready to Ship” status will become view only to every other persona, and new document placeholders will need to be added if you need to provide additional documentation within the same category.

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SimpleNexus – Doc Import Pop-up Message

When a borrower completes their disclosure package in SimpleNexus, a pop-up within Encompass will alert the team when the docs are ready to import.

This pop-up will show to any Encompass user, not just the users assigned to the loan. If you click “Yes” they will automatically download to the eFolder.