4700.2 REV-1

CHAPTER 7. ANNUAL RECERTIFICATION PROCEDURE

7-1 GENERAL. Every lender must be recertified annually. Failure to
submit

the required documents and/or fees will result in cancellation of a

lender\'s authority to participate in the Title I program.

7-2 REQUIRED VERIFICATION REPORT.

A. HUD/FHA uses the Yearly Verification Report to verify data it has

on a lender\'s status and operations. The Lender Approval and

Recertification Division mails this report to every approved lender

at the close of the lender\'s fiscal year.

B. This report must be completed by the lender and returned to HUD/FHA

within 30 days after the close of the lender\'s fiscal year.

C. Lenders are responsible for verifying the data on the form and

correcting any data listed in error. This is done by lining

through the old data on the report and inserting the correct

information.

D. The Yearly Verification Report includes a separate page for each

branch office that is approved to originate Title I loans. This

page(s) must also be reviewed and any changes noted. This report

may not be used to add new branch offices. The procedure for

adding branches is discussed in Paragraph 5-2.

E. After the lender has updated the information and a senior corporate

officer has signed the Yearly Verification Report, it must be

mailed to the following address:

HUD

P.O. Box 100922

Atlanta, GA 30384

7-3 ANNUAL RECERTIFICATION FEES. With the Yearly Verification Report,

lenders are responsible for paying a recertification fee. The fee is

\$150 for the main office and \$50 for each branch office.

A. EXCEPTIONS.

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1\. Governmental Institutions and non-profit organizations are not

required to pay this fee.

2\. Lenders approved within six months prior to the end of their

fiscal year are not required to pay the fee. However, they

must review and correct the Yearly Verification Report and

return it to the address noted in paragraph 7-2 E. above.

Additionally, if the lender is a Nonsupervised Lender or Loan

Correspondent, an audited financial statement may be required.

Please refer to Paragraph 7-4A.2. for information on financial

statements.

B. SUBMISSION OF FEES. The recertification fee must be sent with the

Yearly Verification Report to the address noted in paragraph 7-2 E.

1\. The lender must include its HUD/FHA 10 digit lender

identification number on the face of the check. The canceled

check is evidence of payment of the annual fee.

2\. If a lender is paying an annual fee for more than one approved

lender, a separate check must be used for each lender.

3\. Title I lenders who are also approved under the HUD/FHA Title

II program must mail separate recertification checks in order

to remain approved in each program area.

7-4 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. Nonsupervised Lenders and Loan

Correspondents are required to file audited financial statements

covering their most recent fiscal year within 90 days of the end of each

fiscal year. The statements must be sent to the address in Paragraph 3-

2A.

IMPORTANT: The statements themselves or the accompanying cover letter

MUST contain the lender\'s HUD/FHA 10 digit lender identification
number.

A. EXCEPTIONS TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS REQUIREMENT.

1\. Governmental Institutions are not required to submit audited

financial statements.

2\. A lender approved on the basis of financial statements dated

within six months of the end of its fiscal year need not

submit audited financial statements with its recertification.

If the financial statements were more than six months old at

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the time of approval, then year-end statements must be

submitted with its recertification.

3\. Supervised Lenders and Supervised Loan Correspondents are not

required to submit audited financial statements.

B. EXTENSIONS. Requests to extend the 90 day deadline for submission

will be granted only in unusual circumstances. As an example,

extensions were granted to approved lenders whose home offices were

located in the area affected by the Los Angeles earthquake in

January 1994. Requests for extensions which meet this requirement

must be made in writing and sent to the Lender Approval and

Recertification Division at the address noted in paragraph 3-2 A.

Extensions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and approval

or denial will be sent by the Division Director in writing.

C. AUDIT REPORT REQUIREMENTS. Annual audited financial statements

must meet the following requirements:

1\. BASIC REQUIREMENTS. Each financial statement must meet the

following basic requirements:

a\. They must be prepared in accordance with Generally

Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Generally Accepted

Auditing Standards (GAAS), and Government Auditing

Standards (GAS). The statements must also comply with

HUD Handbook 2000.04 as revised, Consolidated Audit Guide

for Audits of HUD Programs.

b\. They must cover the period since the date of the last

financial statements submitted to the Department.

c\. The audit must be performed by an independent certified

public accountant or licensed independent public

accountant.

d\. The auditor\'s opinion must be unqualified.

2\. FINANCIAL STATEMENT CONTENT. Each financial statement is

expected to contain the following:

a\. Balance sheet.

b\. Statement of operations and retained earnings.

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c\. Statement of cash flow.

d\. Notes to the financial statement.

e\. Computation of Adjusted Net Worth for HUD/FHA

requirements.

f\. Report on Compliance (refer to HUD Handbook 2000.04 for

details).

g\. Report on Internal Control Structure (refer to HUD

Handbook 2000.04 for details).

3\. DETERMINING ADJUSTED NET WORTH. The lender\'s net worth must

be based only on assets that are acceptable to the Department.

Any unacceptable assets must be deducted from the lender\'s net

worth to determine the HUD/FHA adjusted net worth. (Refer to

HUD Handbook 2000.04 as revised for a discussion of acceptable

assets. A list of unacceptable assets is included in Appendix

1 of this Handbook.)

4\. NET WORTH DEFICIT. If the lender\'s adjusted net worth falls

below HUD/FHA requirements, the notes to the financial

statements are analyzed to determine whether a subsequent

event has brought the lender\'s adjusted net worth into

compliance with HUD/FHA requirements.

a\. FAILURE TO MEET NET WORTH REQUIREMENT. If analysis of

the financial statements and notes reveals that the

lender\'s adjusted net worth does not meet HUD/FHA

requirements, the lender is sent a Notice of Violation by

the Mortgagee Review Board. The Notice informs the

lender that the Board is considering an administrative

action based upon its failure to meet HUD/FHA net worth

requirements. The lender is provided an opportunity to

submit a written response within 30 days from receipt of

the Notice. If the lender fails to respond to the

Notice, or to bring its net worth into compliance, the

lender\'s HUD/FHA approval will be withdrawn.

b\. FAILURE TO MAINTAIN REQUIRED NET WORTH. If the financial

statements disclose that the lender consistently does not

maintain the required adjusted net worth throughout the

year, the Department may request that the lender submit

interim financial statements and may consider further

actions. The failure to consistently maintain the

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required net worth is grounds for an administrative

action by the Mortgagee Review Board against a lender.

5\. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. A review is made of the notes

to the financial statements for any indication of fraud or

practices not in compliance with HUD/FHA requirements. The

review also will provide a means to determine whether

Nonsupervised Lenders and Loan Correspondents meet the HUD/FHA

principal activity requirement.

If violations of HUD/FHA requirements or fraud are identified,

a letter is sent to the lender requesting an explanation, or

the lender is referred to the Monitoring Division, the Office

of Inspector General, or the Mortgagee Review Board as

appropriate, for further action.

6\. REPORT ON COMPLIANCE. The auditor\'s report on compliance and

report on internal controls are reviewed to ensure they are

prepared in accordance with: HUD Handbook 2000.04 as revised,

Government Auditing Standards (GAS) (yellow book), and

Statement of Standards (SAS) number 68.

a\. Where the auditor has reported material weaknesses in the

compliance report or in the lender\'s internal controls,

a response from the lender\'s management will be required

to explain the actions to be taken to correct the

weaknesses. The response must be submitted with the

audited financial statements.

b\. Depending on the nature of the findings, the lender may

be referred to the Monitoring Division, Office of

Inspector General, or the Mortgagee Review Board for

appropriate action.

7\. REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL. This report is reviewed to ensure

that the lender has adequate accounting controls and an

adequate quality control plan (as discussed in Chapter 6 of

this Handbook) that has been fully implemented. Failure to

have adequate control systems in place will result in further

action as described above.

7-5 CLARIFICATION OF RECERTIFICATION FEES AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REQUIREMENTS. Because we receive many inquiries concerning the need for

new financial statements and recertification fees, we would like to

provide some further guidance.

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EXAMPLE 1. An established lender with a fiscal year end of December

applies for approval in April of the following year.

This lender would pay the approval fee and submit its December financial

statements when it applies for approval.

When this lender recertifies it must submit its verification report and

fee by January 30 of the year following its approval. It must submit

financial statements dated December 31 of its approval year by March 31

of the year following its approval.

EXAMPLE 2. An established lender with a fiscal year end of December

applies for approval in September of the following year.

This lender would pay the approval fee and submit its December financial

statements when it applies for approval. Because the statements are

dated more than six months prior to the end of its fiscal year, it must

also submit a balance sheet prepared and certified by management dated

within six months of the time of application.

When this lender recertifies it must submit its verification report by

January 30 of the year following its approval. However, no fee will be

required since it was approved within six months of the end of its

fiscal year. It must submit financial statements dated December 31 of

its approval year by March 31 of the year following its approval.

EXAMPLE 3. A newly formed lender with a fiscal year end of December

applies for approval in September of the following year.

This lender paid the approval fee and had financial statements prepared

as of August 30 for the purpose of applying for approval.

When this lender recertifies it must submit its verification report by

January 30 of the year following its approval. However, no fee will be

required since it was approved within six months of the end of its

fiscal year. The lender would not need to submit new financial

statements since the ones submitted with its approval were less than six

months old.

If this lender had financial statements prepared as of May 31, for

example, when it applied for approval, it would have had to submit new

statements dated December 31 with its recertification.

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7-6 JOINT TITLE I AND TITLE II RECERTIFICATION. A lender that is
approved

to participate in both the Title I and Title II programs may recertify

under both programs jointly. In the lender\'s cover letter it must state

that it is recertifying under both programs and it must list both the

lender identification and mortgagee identification numbers. Only one set

of audited financial statements must be submitted. The lender must

submit both the Title I and Title II recertification fees as discussed

in Paragraph 7-3B.3.

7-7 FAILURE TO SUBMIT, OR SUBMISSION OF AN INCOMPLETE OR UNACCEPTABLE
AUDIT

REPORT. When a lender fails to submit its audit report within 90 days

of the close of its fiscal year, or submits an incomplete or

unacceptable audit report, the lender will be sent a Notice of Violation

by the Mortgagee Review Board. The lender will be provided an

opportunity to submit an acceptable audit report or other documents

within 30 days after receipt of the Notice. Failure to submit an

acceptable audit report within the 30-day period will result in the

withdrawal of the lender\'s HUD/FHA approval.

7-8 REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION. Lenders are required under the
Department\'s

regulations (24 CFR 202.3(h)) to provide, upon request, a copy of their

latest financial statement plus such additional information the

Department may request. Lenders are also required to submit to an

examination of that portion of their records that relates to their Title

I lending activities.

7-9 VOLUNTARY WITHDRAWAL OF HUD/ FHA APPROVAL. A lender may request a

voluntary withdrawal of its HUD/FHA approval by submitting written

notification to the Office of Lender Activities and Land Sales

Registration.

7-10 CONVERSION OF LENDER TYPE. A lender that converts its status from
one

type to another during its fiscal year must continue to comply with all

annual recertification requirements. Its recertification must continue

to be made on the basis of its current fiscal year unless its fiscal

year end has changed.

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