The Dept. Of Housing and Urban Development has released Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2009-39 titled, "Sub-Servicing of FHA-insured Mortgages"

The recent mortgage crisis, and the Administration’s response to this crisis, has increased the demand for loss mitigation services.  In many instances, the need for loss mitigation services may have outpaced many servicers’ capacity to process defaulted borrowers requests in a timely manner.  To ensure that FHA approved mortgagees and their servicers can respond to all loss mitigation requests, this Mortgagee Letter summarizes things that mortgagees and servicing mortgagees need to keep in mind if they need to expand their servicing capacity including loss mitigation processing capacity. 

As a reminder, the servicing of FHA-insured loans must be performed by a mortgagee that is approved by FHA pursuant to FHA regulations.  See 24 CFR §§202.5 and 203.502.  The regulations do not preclude an FHA approved from performing servicing actions on behalf of another FHA-approved servicer or at the direction of an FHA-approved mortgagee.  For example, an FHA-approved servicer may enter into a business arrangement to perform loss mitigation services on behalf of another FHA-approved servicer.  Within the industry, those business arrangements are often referred to as sub-servicing agreements.  As stated in Mortgagee Letter 93-03, issued January 7, 1993, all mortgagees that service FHA insured mortgages must be FHA –approved, and this includes sub-servicing mortgagees. 

Although sub-servicers presently are neither specifically identified nor tracked in any FHA system, holding mortgagees and servicing mortgagees that decide to use sub-servicing mortgagees must ensure that the sub-servicer  is an FHA approved mortgagee .  Under FHA’s regulations 24 CFR §203.502, “The mortgagee shall remain fully responsible to the Secretary for proper servicing, and the actions of the servicer shall be considered to be the actions of the mortgagee.  The servicer shall also be fully responsible to the Secretary for its actions as a servicer.”  In turn, the holding mortgagee is responsible for the actions of the sub-servicer, and the sub-servicer is responsible to the Secretary as an approved mortgagee for its actions in servicing the FHA mortgages. 

In summary, to meet the increased need for loss mitigation, the Department has no objection to mortgagees entering into subservicing agreements with other FHA- approved servicers to perform loss mitigation functions.  As a reminder, the costs associated with subservicing are treated the same as for outsourcing in that the costs of such services may not be imposed on the FHA mortgagor or passed along to the Department on any subsequent claim for mortgage insurance benefits.  This prohibition also extends to independent contractors that often target mortgagors in distress and then charge for their services.  Too many distressed mortgagors have been taken advantage of by so-called loss mitigation or foreclosure avoidance “counselors”.  FHA-approved mortgagees and mortgage servicers must not assist in legitimizing the services of those individuals that prey on distressed mortgagors.   

Questions regarding this Mortgagee Letter may be directed to HUD’s National Servicing Center (NSC) at 888-297-8685 or hsg-lossmit@hud.gov.  Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this number via TDD/TTY by calling 1-877-TDD-2HUD

To view the Mortgagee Letter in its entirety, please click here.

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Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio 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 700 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.