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Question: As a lender, how can we obtain Day 1 Certainty from Fannie Mae through the Desktop Underwriter (DU) validation service?

Answer:

Day 1 Certainty is a Fannie Mae initiative intended to speed up the mortgage process and reduce fraud by using electronic data rather than manual documents to verify income, employment, assets, and property value. With the use of this electronic data, Fannie Mae provides some enforcement relief from standard lender representations and warranties. Fannie Mae allows lenders to participate in a Desktop Underwriter (DU) validation service, which uses authorized verification report vendors to independently validate borrower income, employment, and asset data. Fannie Mae accepts eligible verification reports from these vendors.

These authorized verification report vendors have entered into agreements with Fannie Mae to participate in the DU validation service. Upon request of the lender, these authorized vendors will generate a verification report and send the data electronically to the DU validation service.

This process eliminates paperwork, speeds up loan approvals and provides lenders with representation and warranty relief through Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty program.

Fannie maintains a list of all of these vendors, as well as eligible verification reports here.