source:
  type: guide
  id: fnma-sel-b3-3.2-01
  authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-01 — Standards for Employment and Income
    Documentation
  description: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-01 — Standards for Employment and Income
    Documentation.
  coverage_tier: operative
obligations:
- id: fnma-sel-b3-3.2-01-full
  canonical_id: fnma-sel-b3-3.2-01-full
  section: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-01 — Standards for Employment and Income
    Documentation
  type: do
  tags:
  - regulator-direct
  - fnma
  - selling-guide
  - corpus-expansion
  - tier-operative
  primary_source:
    tier: 1
    authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-01 — Standards for Employment and Income
      Documentation
    source_class: fnma-guide
    source_url: https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/media/document/pdf/selling-guide
    snapshot_id: 5f7b8b79da595d76
    fetched_at: '2026-05-25T14:09:57Z'
    content_hash: sha256:98cf85a02861bbe84914a0e339b327c8fc131869a8a573882007bbeea60c5701
    paragraph_quote: 'B3-3.2-01, Standards for Employment and Income Documentation
      (03/04/2026) Introduction This topic contains information on the standards for
      documentation of employment income, including: General Documentation Requirements
      Documentation Provided by the Borrower Documentation Provided by the Borrower''s
      Employer Documentation Provided by a Third-Party Employment Veriﬁcation Vendor
      General Documentation Requirements Published May 6, 2026 310 The lender must
      verify employment income for all borrowers whose income is used to qualify for
      the loan. This veriﬁcation can be provided by the borrower, by the borrower’s
      employer, or by a third-party employment veriﬁcation vendor. The standards for
      employment documentation are the same for DU loan caseﬁles as they are for manually
      underwritten loans. For example, paystubs, W-2s, and tax returns must meet the
      same requirements without regard to the underwriting method. A year end paystub
      reﬂecting earnings from the entire year is acceptable in lieu of the W-2. When
      employment is validated through the DU validation service using an asset veriﬁcation
      report, the lender is not required to obtain the employment veriﬁcation documentation
      described below. DU will provide messaging indicating the documentation required.
      Lenders must comply with all requirements pertaining to the DU validation service.
      See B3-2-02, DU Validation Service for more information. Documentation Provided
      by the Borrower The following table provides requirements for documentation
      provided by the borrower. ✓ Requirements - Paystubs and W-2s The most recent
      paystub must be dated no earlier than 30 days prior to the initial loan application
      date and it must include all year-to-date earnings. Additionally, the most recent
      paystub must include suﬃcient information to appropriately calculate income;
      otherwise, additional documentation must be obtained. Paystubs must comply with
      B1-1-03, Allowable Age of Credit Documents and Federal Income Tax Returns. IRS
      W-2 forms must cover the most recent one- or two-year period, based on the documentation
      requirements for the particular income type, and must clearly identify the borrower
      as the employee. ”Most recent” W-2 is deﬁned as the W-2 for the calendar year
      prior to the current calendar year. Alternative documentation, such as an IRS
      Wage and Income (W-2) Transcript, a written Request for Veriﬁcation of Employment
      ( Form 1005) (see below) or the ﬁnal year-to-date paystub, may be used as long
      as adequate information is provided. Documents must be computer-generated or
      typed by the borrower’s employer(s), although paystubs that the borrower downloads
      from the Internet are also acceptable. Documents must clearly identify the employer’s
      name and source of information. The information must be complete and legible.
      The original source of the information must be a third party, such as the borrower''s
      human resources department, personnel oﬃce, payroll department, company''s payroll
      vendor, or supervisor. For tax return requirements, see B3-3.1-02, Tax Return
      and Transcript Documentation Requirements. Published May 6, 2026 311 Documentation
      Provided by the Borrower''s Employer The lender may use the Request for Veriﬁcation
      of Employment ( Form 1005) to document employment and income. The date of the
      completed form must comply with B1-1-03, Allowable Age of Credit Documents and
      Federal Income Tax Returns. The information on Form 1005 must be legible. The
      following ﬁelds on Form 1005 are optional:The remaining ﬁelds on the form must
      be completed as applicable to the borrower. When the borrower authorizes the
      lender to obtain veriﬁcations of employment and income directly from the employer,
      the lender must have the borrower sign Form 1005. Field # Title of Optional
      Field 11 Probability of continued employment 14 If overtime or bonus is applicable,
      is its continuance likely? 16 Date of applicant’s next pay increase 17 Projected
      amount of next pay increase 18 Date of applicant’s last pay increase 19 Amount
      of last pay increase 24 Reason for leaving (Part III — Veriﬁcation of Previous
      Employment) The remaining ﬁelds on the form must be completed as applicable
      to the borrower. When the borrower authorizes the lender to obtain veriﬁcations
      of employment and income directly from the employer, the lender must have the
      borrower sign Form 1005. Alternatively, the lender may have the applicant sign
      a signature authorization form, which gives the lender blanket authorization
      to request the information it needs to evaluate the applicant’s creditworthiness.
      See B1-1-02, Blanket Authorization Form, for additional information. Documentation
      Provided by a Third-Party Employment Veriﬁcation Vendor The lender may receive
      employment and income veriﬁcation directly from a third-party employment veriﬁcation
      vendor. These veriﬁcations are acceptable as long as Published May 6, 2026 312
      the borrower provided proper authorization for the lender to use this veriﬁcation
      method, the date of the completed veriﬁcation is in compliance with B1-1-03,
      Allowable Age of Credit Documents and Federal Income Tax Returns, the lender
      has determined that the vendor has made provisions to comply with reasonable
      quality control requests from both the lender and any subsequent mortgagee,
      and the lender understands it will be held accountable for the integrity of
      the information obtained from this source. If necessary, the lender must supplement
      these veriﬁcations by obtaining any missing information from the borrower or
      their employer. Loans that are submitted through the DU validation service must
      comply with all requirements pertaining to the DU validation service. See B3-2-02,
      DU Validation Service. Recent Related Announcements The table below provides
      reference to recently issued Announcements related to this topic. Announcements
      Issue Date Announcement SEL-2026-02 March 04, 2026'
  judgment: false
