In Lender Letter 07-07, Reimbursement to Fannie Mae Servicers for Borrower Counseling Through the HOPE NOW Alliance, dated December 20, 2007, Fannie Mae announced that it would provide reimbursement to servicers who pay counseling fees on behalf of borrowers to support delinquency resolution through the HOPE NOW Alliance.

With this Lender Letter, Fannie Mae is announcing the following changes to the HOPE NOW Alliance borrower counseling reimbursement initiative:

• The time period for servicers to request reimbursement for counseling fees is extended to allow reimbursement for counseling cases that were initiated on or before December 31, 2008 and invoiced no later than March 31, 2009.All reimbursement requests must be submitted to Fannie Mae on or before May 31, 2009.
• The maximum reimbursement amount is increased from $100 to $150 per case for each mortgage loan that is owned or securitized by Fannie Mae and serviced under Fannie Mae’s special servicing option. The new fee is effective for new counseling cases opened on or after June 1, 2008.
• All reimbursement requests, without regard to the number of requests, must be submitted on an encrypted spreadsheet via secured email by servicers on a monthly basis following specific procedures discussed in the Letter. Effective with this Lender Letter, Fannie Mae is no longer accepting counseling reimbursement requests using Fannie Mae’s Cash Disbursement Request (Form 571).

Any questions pertaining to this Lender Letter should be directed to the National Servicing Organization’s Servicing Solutions Center at 1-888-326-6438 (option 2 – Servicing, then option 3 – General Servicing).

To view the Lender Letter,including details on the reimbursement process, please click here.

About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, OH  and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with over 500 employees.  Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.