Friday, June 03, 2011

Mortgage bankers press FHA to use e-signatures

The Mortgage Bankers Association sent a letter to the Federal Housing Administration this week requesting the use of electronic signatures for all mortgage origination forms.


The letter was sent to Bob Ryan, the acting commissioner of the FHA. He was originally hired as the FHA's first chief risk officer in 2009 by David Stevens. Stevens left his role as the head of the FHA in April to become the new CEO for the MBA.

In the letter, the MBA said by allowing e-signatures on all forms, there would be less paperwork lost, fewer possibilities for fraud, a reduction in the time it takes to close a loan and even lower costs for borrowers.

"These benefits eliminate many of the annoyances of a paper-based process, including lost or inconsistent documents," the MBA said. "In addition, consumers would have greater flexibility and convenience within the home buying process because they would not have to change documents and related signing processes if they changed from a conventional loan to an FHA loan."

Most lenders already allow borrowers to apply online and send information electronically. Appraisal orders, credit reports and the verification of deposit balances also are performed automatically and online.

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