WASHINGTON—The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has added Chinese-language documents to its Mortgage Translations clearinghouse, a collection of translated documents and tools for lenders, servicers, housing counselors, and others to assist borrowers with limited English proficiency through the homebuying process.
The clearinghouse also includes Spanish-language documents.
The FHFA indicated it will "continue to work with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the Language Access Multi-Year Plan, which may include adding more translated mortgage documents to the Mortgage Translations website," NAFCU reported.
The Mortgage Translations clearinghouse contains resources such as translated documents, borrower education materials, a standardized glossary of mortgage terms, and more. It was launched as part of the FHFA's goals to improve language access and was discussed in a 2017 request for comment that included proposed changes to the Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) to include a preferred language question.
Voluntary, Not Mandatory
The FHFA announced in August that the preferred language question on the government-sponsored enterprises' (GSEs) redesigned URLA will now be voluntary instead of mandatory. NAFCU noted that it flagged for the FHFA credit unions' cost and legal concerns about the addition of the question.
The agency also delayed the optional use period – set to begin July 1 – of the redesigned URLA and has now also delayed the mandatory effective date, which was February 2020. The FHFA indicated it would work with stakeholders to finalize the URLA form and develop a new implementation timeline; no new date has been announced.