After hearing many complaints regarding lender acceptance of e-signatures in regards to FHA insured loans specifically, HUD has finally changed their stance on acceptance of docusign electronic signatures.
As of, April 8, 2010, e-signed third-party documents, including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) with the issuance of today’s mortgagee letter (ML 10-14).
This mortgagee letter is the first in what is expected to be a series of responses to this initiative. With this policy statement from the nation’s largest mortgage insurer, real estate professionals can use DocuSign to get real estate contracts, addenda and other documents signed electronically, and their buyers can apply for FHA insurance with confidence. The FHA mortgagee letter can be found on HTTP://WWW.HUD.GOV website.
DocuSign began direct conversations with FHA on this issue back in October of 2008. They shared this blog post about FHA and Lender Acceptance of electronic signature back in July 2009. DocuSign spearheaded an industry-wide effort to move the FHA to formally recognize e-signed third-party documents.
The staff at the FHA has been pushing for progress for over two years. It took some early encouragement and help from many concerned parties such as the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and ESRA to help get this mortgagee letter published.