this federal housing administration (FHA) issued a Mortgagee Letter (ML) this week revising the 2022 requirements for mortgage lenders and anyone seeking to do business with the FHA to obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in order to qualify engaged in such business.
In ML 2024-09, the agency’s UEI policy for FHA-approved lenders was updated to streamline reporting requirements for the policy established in the summer of 2022 and implemented by the end of that year.
“In August 2022, FHA implemented a UEI policy requiring those doing business or seeking to do business with the federal government to register, obtain and maintain a UEI number with a federal agency. General Services Administrationof the (GSA) Award Management System (SAM.gov),” the notice reads. “FHA is implementing this government-wide requirement under the guidance of GSA. “
GSA is a department of the U.S. Government established to help manage and support the essential operations of federal agencies. In ML 2022-14, the original guidance described the need for UEI as an important compliance measure.
“Active SAM.gov registration and UEI are critical to HUD’s compliance with the Federal Funds Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, as amended by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, which requires[s] Federal agencies report data on federal incentives and track them using the UEI,” the 2022 Mortgage Lender Letter explains.
The FHA explains that ML 2024-09 “modifies FHA’s eligibility requirements to remove the home office geographic address from the profile that must be the same in the Lender Electronic Appraisal Portal (LEAP) and SAM.gov.” “This change will be implemented by reducing potentially conflicting information between LEAP and SAM.gov platforms to streamline data reporting and support lender compliance.”
The new regulations affect all FHA-approved lenders as well as any other entity seeking to do business with the FHA, such as mortgage underwriters, appraisers, housing consultants and real estate agents. This rule takes effect immediately.
All lenders and entities covered by this policy must review their SAM.gov registration annually and maintain an active registration in the website repository.
