May 17, 2005

> TI -478

TO: ALL APPROVED TITLE I LENDING INSTITUTIONS

SUBJECT: Electronic Payment of the Annual Recertification Fee and
Downloading of the

> Yearly Verification Report via the FHA Connection

As part of HUD's continuing commitment to make the federal government
more efficient and more responsive to customers, the Department is
implementing two new major enhancements to the Lender Approval portion
of the FHA Connection. These enhancements enable lenders to pay the
annual recertification fee and download the Yearly Verification Report
(more commonly known as the V‑Form) electronically. This Title I letter
supplements the requirements in 24 CFR 5.801 and restated in Title I
Letter 2003-01, dated February 25, 2003, that non-supervised lenders and
loan correspondents submit their annual recertification audits
electronically. These enhancements reflect the continued effort to
provide more efficient processing of the various lender approval and
recertification functions between lenders and the Department. The use of
these new enhancements was effective August 1, 2004.

This letter confirms that all recertification fee payments, for lenders
whose fiscal year ended on or after July 31, 2004, will be made by
accessing "pay.gov" via the FHA Connection and by using the "Pay Now"
button that has been added to the Institution Profile page of each
lender. This payment method will also be used for all other lenders for
payment of any past due recertification fee. Lenders are reminded to
first delete any branches whose registration they do not want to renew
before clicking on the "Pay Now" button, in order to be charged the
correct fee amount.

As the result of these enhancements, the Department has ceased mailing
out the V-Forms for all lenders whose fiscal year ended July 31, 2004,
or later. The submission of a signed paper copy of the V-Form is still
required as part of the recertification process and the mailing address
is included on the form.

In addition to these major enhancements, several smaller changes have
also been made to the lender approval functions in the FHA Connection.
These include the ability of lenders to update their payee address, view
the list of field office jurisdictions where they are authorized to
originate Title I loans and download the revised cover sheet for the
payment of the fee required for adding a branch. All of the lender
approval functions available via the FHA Connection can be viewed at

2

<https://entp.hud.gov/pdf/mp_lndapp.pdf>. This file also includes the
detailed instructions on using pay.gov. The ability to pay other fees
electronically will be added to the FHA Connection in the future.

If you do not already have an FHA Connection account, you can obtain the
registration information at: <https://entp.hud.gov/clas>. Should you
have general questions regarding the FHA Connection, please contact the
appropriate Homeownership Center which is listed at:
[~~http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hoc/hsghocs.cfm~~](http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hoc/hsghocs.cfm).
(Update 7/9/07: http://www.fha.gov/hoc/index.cfm)

**OMB Information Collection Approval:** The information collection
requirements contained in this Title I letter have been approved by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520) and assigned OMB control number 2502-0005.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of
information unless the collection displays a currently valid OMB control
number.

> Sincerely,
>
> Assistant Secretary for Housing-
>
> Federal Housing Commissioner