source:
  type: guide
  id: fnma-sel-b3-2-01
  authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-2-01 — General Information on DU
  description: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-2-01 — General Information on DU.
  coverage_tier: operative
obligations:
- id: fnma-sel-b3-2-01-full
  canonical_id: fnma-sel-b3-2-01-full
  section: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-2-01 — General Information on DU
  type: do
  tags:
  - regulator-direct
  - fnma
  - selling-guide
  - corpus-expansion
  - tier-operative
  primary_source:
    tier: 1
    authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-2-01 — General Information on DU
    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: 'B3-2-01, General Information on DU (04/01/2026) Introduction
      This topic contains general information on DU, including: Overview Underwriting
      with DU DU Underwriting Reports Loan Caseﬁle Archival Policy DU Underwriting
      Recommendations General Requirements for Lenders Overview Fannie Mae’s underwriting
      policies include an evaluation of the borrower’s (or spouse’s to the extent
      required by applicable law) equity investment, credit history, liquid reserves,
      reliable and recurring income, and the cumulative eﬀect that these and other
      risk factors have on mortgage loan performance. Fannie Mae’s underwriting policies
      enable the lender to consider various scenarios in evaluating a borrower’s willingness
      and capacity to repay the mortgage loan. The lender must conﬁrm that information
      provided by the borrower during the loan application process is accurate and
      complete; include documentation in the loan ﬁle that supports the lender’s assessment
      of the borrower’s credit history, employment and income, assets, and other ﬁnancial
      information used for qualifying; conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of
      each mortgage loan application; and render a decision to either approve or decline
      the mortgage loan application. Fannie Mae oﬀers lenders two options for conducting
      a comprehensive risk assessment–automated underwriting through DU or manual
      underwriting. Both methods include an evaluation of the borrower’s equity investment,
      credit history, liquid reserves, reliable and recurring income, and the cumulative
      eﬀect that these and other risk factors have on mortgage loan performance. DU
      evaluates mortgage delinquency risk and arrives at an underwriting recommendation
      by relying on a comprehensive examination of the primary and contributory risk
      factors in a mortgage application. (See B3-2-03, Risk Factors Evaluated by DU)
      It analyzes the information in the loan caseﬁle to reach an overall credit risk
      assessment to determine eligibility for delivery to Fannie Mae. No one factor
      determines a borrower’s ability or willingness to make their mortgage payments.
      DU identiﬁes low-risk factors that can oﬀset high-risk factors. When several
      high-risk factors are present in a loan caseﬁle without suﬃcient oﬀsets, the
      likelihood of serious delinquency increases. DU conducts its analysis uniformly,
      and without regard to race, gender, or other prohibited factors. DU uses validated,
      statistically signiﬁcant variables that have been shown to be predictive of
      mortgage delinquency across all groups. Published May 6, 2026 270 DU does not
      evaluate a loan’s compliance with federal and state laws and regulations including,
      without limitation, a loan’s potential status as a qualiﬁed mortgage under applicable
      laws and regulations. Lenders bear sole responsibility for complying with applicable
      laws and regulations, and these compliance obligations may not be imposed upon
      or shared by Fannie Mae. Underwriting with DU Lenders must enter loan data (including
      data from the Form 1003) in their loan origination system or in the DU user
      interface before submitting for underwriting. A credit report must also be obtained.
      Loans may be submitted to DU before or after the closing of the mortgage loan;
      however, the ﬁrst submission to DU for underwriting purposes must occur before
      closing of the mortgage loan. When the mortgage loan or borrower information
      changes and it no longer matches the information used when the loan caseﬁle
      was last underwritten with DU, the lender must update the data and resubmit
      the loan caseﬁle to DU. Exceptions are speciﬁed in B3-2-10, Accuracy of DU Data,
      DU Tolerances, and Errors in the Credit Report. When the loan caseﬁle is resubmitted
      to DU after closing and prior to delivery to Fannie Mae, the lender is responsible
      for ensuring that: all information provided in the ﬁnal submission to DU matches
      the terms of the closed loan; the loan complies with the requirements speciﬁed
      in A2-2-04, Limited Waiver and Enforcement Relief of Representations and Warranties;
      the loan delivery data matches both the closed loan and the ﬁnal data submitted
      to DU; and the loan caseﬁle receives an eligible recommendation from DU on the
      ﬁnal submission. The lender may request a new credit report after closing when
      the loan caseﬁle is resubmitted and, as with all loan caseﬁles, must comply
      with the Fair Credit Reporting Act with regard to the purpose and nature of
      the inquiry. If the new credit report contains information that is diﬀerent
      than the information used to prepare the ﬁnal loan application that was signed
      by the borrower at closing, the loan application must be updated. (Borrower
      signature(s) are not required due to the update occurring post-closing.) The
      lender must include both the ﬁnal signed and the updated unsigned loan applications
      in the loan ﬁle. Note: The credit report must meet the allowable age of documents
      as of the note date. If the credit report expired prior to the note date and
      the loan caseﬁle is being resubmitted to DU, a new credit report must be requested.
      In certain instances, the lender may not be able to access the original DU loan
      caseﬁle for resubmission purposes. Lenders may create a new loan caseﬁle in
      DU after closing to ensure that all information in the ﬁnal DU submission matches
      the terms of the closed loan, provided all of the following conditions are met:
      the above lender responsibilities are met, including the updating of the ﬁnal
      loan application, if applicable; the loan has not yet been delivered to Fannie
      Mae; the loan has the same information (for example, the same borrower(s) and
      property) as had previously been underwritten through DU prior to closing using
      another loan caseﬁle, and that loan caseﬁle received an eligible recommendation
      from DU; the lender retains the DU Underwriting Findings Report from the original
      loan caseﬁle ID in the loan ﬁle; the DU submission using the new loan caseﬁle
      occurs no more than 60 days after closing (based on the note date) or 18 months
      after initial closing for single-closing construction-to-permanent loans (described
      Published May 6, 2026 271 in B5-3.1-02, Conversion of Construction-to-Permanent
      Financing: Single-Closing Transactions); and as stated above, when a new credit
      report is requested, the lender complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
      If the resubmission to DU results in an “ineligible” recommendation, the mortgage
      loan may not be delivered to Fannie Mae. Note: If the quality control function
      is performed before delivery, the above requirements apply. If quality control
      is performed after delivery, see Chapter D1-3, Lender Post-Closing QC Mortgage
      Review. DU Underwriting Reports DU issues two types of reports: The DU Underwriting
      Findings report summarizes the overall underwriting recommendation and lists
      the steps necessary for the lender to complete the processing of the loan ﬁle.
      This is typically the ﬁrst report viewed by an underwriter or a loan oﬃcer after
      the loan caseﬁle has been underwritten with DU. This report is described in
      B3-2-11, DU Underwriting Findings Report. The Underwriting Analysis report contains
      much of the same information requested on the Uniform Underwriting and Transmittal
      Summary ( Form 1008). Each time a loan caseﬁle is resubmitted to DU, the information
      in these reports is updated with information from the most recent submission.
      The date and time of each submission are recorded on each report, along with
      the unique loan caseﬁle ID. Loan Caseﬁle Archival Policy DU loan caseﬁles are
      archived and no longer retained in DU from the earlier of 270 days from the
      date on which the loan caseﬁle was last updated, or 540 days from the date on
      which the loan caseﬁle was created. Loan caseﬁles for single-closing construction-to-permanent
      transactions (identiﬁed in DU as a Construction-to- Permanent Closing Type of
      Single-Closing), will be archived using 660 days from the date on which the
      loan caseﬁle was created. These time frames are intended to ensure that the
      total volume of loans in the system is at a manageable level, reducing the time
      required by DU to search for and retrieve loan caseﬁles After a loan caseﬁle
      is archived from DU, it cannot be restored. If a loan caseﬁle that has been
      archived must be re-underwritten, a new loan caseﬁle must be created and submitted
      to DU. The loan caseﬁle will be subject to the policies in eﬀect for the current
      version of DU. Fannie Mae is not responsible for retaining loan caseﬁles for
      the lender. DU Underwriting Recommendations Published May 6, 2026 272 The following
      topics describe the underwriting recommendations returned by DU: B3-2-05, Approve/Eligible
      Recommendations. B3-2-06, Approve/Ineligible Recommendations. B3-2-07, Refer
      with Caution Recommendations. B3-2-08, Out of Scope Recommendations. General
      Requirements for Lenders When underwriting loans with DU, the lender must: employ
      prudent underwriting judgment in assessing whether a loan caseﬁle should be
      approved and delivered to Fannie Mae; conﬁrm the accuracy of the data it submits,
      making sure that it did not fail to submit any data that might have aﬀected
      the DU recommendation had it been known; ensure that the loan complies with
      all of the veriﬁcation messages and approval conditions speciﬁed in the DU Underwriting
      Findings report; apply due diligence when reviewing the documentation in the
      loan ﬁle; review the credit report to conﬁrm that the data that DU evaluated
      with respect to the borrower’s credit history was accurate and complete; determine
      if there is any potentially derogatory or contradictory information that is
      not part of the data analyzed by DU; and take action when erroneous data in
      the credit report or contradictory or derogatory information in the loan ﬁle
      would justify additional investigation or would provide grounds for a decision
      that is diﬀerent from the recommendation that DU delivered. For example, if
      a foreclosure was reported in the credit report but was not detected by DU (that
      is, it was not referenced in any veriﬁcation messages), the lender must determine
      if the loan complies with the applicable guidelines (see B3-5.3-07, Signiﬁcant
      Derogatory Credit Events — Waiting Periods and Re-establishing Credit). See
      the Desktop Underwriter & Desktop Originator Learning Center for a number of
      helpful resources. Recent Related Announcements The table below provides references
      to recently issued Announcements that are related to this topic. Announcements
      and Release Notes Issue Date Announcement SEL-2026-03 April 01, 2026 Announcement
      SEL-2025-05 July 02, 2025 Announcement SEL-2021-04 May 05, 2021 Announcement
      SEL-2020-07 December 16, 2020 Published May 6, 2026 273'
  judgment: false
