Freddie Mac issued Bulletin 2022-25 (Bulletin) announcing revisions to the Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide. Per the Bulletin, Freddie Mac:
- announced the new conforming loan limit values for 2023;
- provided guidance for the Temporary Market Stabilization Arrangement in Florida ;
- added a trust established by a related person and an estate of a related person as eligible donors of gift funds and gifts of equity;
- expanded requirements to permit exclusion of property-related expenses from the DTI ratio if a party other than the borrower has been making timely payments for the most recent 12 months and the party is not an interested party to the subject real estate or mortgage transaction;
- removed the requirement that the debt must be secured in order to be excluded from the monthly DTI ratio if the obligation to make the payments on the debt has been assigned to another party by a documented court order, such as a divorce decree;
- incorporated into the Selling Guide guidance related to temporary leave due to employer-initiated actions (such as furloughs and layoffs);
- announced a new seasoning requirement for a mortgage that is being paid off with proceeds of a cash-out refinance mortgage;
- announced a specified payup option for all eligible fixed-rate Best Efforts Mortgages with low loan balance (LLB) attributes;
- updated Form 483 (Wire Transfer Authorization);
- updated the System-Specific License for Freddie Mac Loan Advisor to remove references to the Correspondent Assignment Center (which was retired on December 3, 2022); and
- updated requirements with respect to information sharing and related third parties.
Revisions with respect to the new conforming loan limit values for 2023 are effective for mortgages with settlement dates on and after January 1, 2023. Revisions with respect to the new seasoning requirement for the mortgage being refinanced are effective for mortgages with settlement dates on and after March 7, 2023. Revisions with respect to the specified payup option for Best Effort Mortgages are effective December 5, 2022. Revisions related to the System-Specific License for Freddie Mac Loan Advisor and requests for information pertaining to related third parties are effective December 14, 2022. All other revisions are effective December 7, 2022.
Click to view the Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2022-25: https://www.tenaco.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Freddie-Mac-Guide-Bulletin-2022-25-12-08-22-1.pdf
