MISMO taking servicing transfer criteria to next step in 2023

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has identified a number of high priority initiatives it plans to make more progress on in the coming year, including widely-anticipated servicing transfer criteria.

The group said it will be able to rededicate itself to some of its other priorities now that it's released the latest update to its Reference Model Version 3.6, an effort former MISMO President Seth Appleton described in an introductory letter to its 2022 annual report as "foundational to the way market participants exchange information" through "data, systems and technology platforms."

The group released the report at its Winter Summit in Delray Beach, Florida.

In addition to making more headway on standardized datasets aimed at easing friction in transfers with a focus on lender to closing partner communications, MISMO's priorities for the coming year include work designed to improve efficiency and scalability in the private label and agency mortgage-backed securities markets. It'll also be focusing on a standard for exchanging housing counseling data among providers, lenders, servicers, the government-sponsored enterprises, and other housing agencies. A standard for "exchanging loan examination file data between state regulators and lenders regulated by them" also is on the roadmap for 2023, according to Appleton's introductory letter.

Appleton recently left MISMO to head up the U.S. Mortgage Insurers. Jan Davis is MISMO's acting president and will be charged with overseeing 2023 projects like the work involved in moving the servicing transfer project forward. The project's goal is to make more progress on "a catalog of information that will form the basis of a standardized dataset for eliminating friction" in transactions, according to the report.

Accomplishments in the past year highlighted in the report included publishing the Adverse Action Notice Standard, which gives lenders and vendors a common method for completing credit denial forms; and the launch of the e-Eligibility Exchange powered by Snapdocs.

"MISMO's exemplary work to reduce costs and improve efficiency across the mortgage market is essential in today's economic climate," Davis said in a press release. "We made excellent progress last year on the initiatives that fulfill this mission and look forward to building upon this work on behalf of the industry in 2023."