Rural Housing Service July 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 was signed into law on July 29, 2016. It created Section 502(i) in the Housing Act of 1949, later amended by Section 758 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which permits the Secretary to assess and collect a guarantee underwriting user fee (also known as a technology fee) from lenders for their use of the Rural Housing Service's (Agency's) automated guaranteed loan systems. The collection of the fee will enable the Agency to fund future information technology enhancements needed to improve program delivery and reduce burden to the public. The fee amount will be published in the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) Handbook HB-1-3555, available at https://www.rd.usda.gov/publications/regulations-guidelines/ handbooks. The fee will not exceed $50 per loan, and constitutes a reasonable and customary cost that is an authorized loan purpose in accordance with the Guaranteed Rural Housing Program. The primary method of collecting the fee will be through the Agency's Lender Loan Closing (LLC) system when a loan goes to closing.