The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (“MISMO”) recently announced release of new Closing Instructions templates for use by lenders. Find the MISMO announcement here. As stated in the release, “MISMO's Closing Instructions are templates that lenders can use to communicate with settlement agents. The templates create a common format for closing instructions and are intended to improve communications between lenders and settlement agents, thereby reducing closing errors. By using the same templates, lenders and settlement agents will save money, reduce operational overhead, have fewer compliance violations, and be able to provide better customer service.”
The templates are the result of years of work by members of the mortgage industry, including document providers like DocMagic, LOS partners and of course lenders and settlement agents. The goal of the templates is to organize information in a common format across lenders to improve the efficient use of closing instructions and better adherence by settlement agents.
The closing instructions are composed of two templates: the “Master Closing Instructions” and “Transactional Closing Instructions.” Master Closing Instructions are intended for infrequent submission to settlement agents by their lender partners. These instructions include the general basic policies of the lender, which the lender expects the settlement agent to always follow. The Transactional Closing Instructions are intended to be submitted for each transaction with details specific only to that transaction.
A common theme for both of these instructions is that they are composed of headings only, which are intended to be static and not custom to each lender. The information completed under the heading is expected to be customized to each lender; however, an implementation guide that provides details as to the intentions for each heading is also provided along with the closing instructions templates. Lenders should review the implementation guide available on the MISMO website for further information.
These templates should be available for use by DocMagic customers in June. Use of these instructions is under license provided by MISMO and is intended primarily for use by its members. Please contact MISMO for further information on membership if relevant. Please contact DocMagic’s Compliance Department if you have any questions about these documents or their use.
