Fannie Mae Introduces eCommitting -- New Web-based Tool Provides Online Cash Committing for a Variety of Loan Products

April 11, 2002

CHICAGO, IL -- Mortgage lenders will soon be able to commit to sell individual loans to Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE), the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, more efficiently through the company's new eCommitting application. The new Web-based tool provides lenders with enhanced capabilities to obtain Fannie Mae's commitment to purchase their mortgage loans using one simple connection, which is accessed through the company's business-to-business Web site, www.efanniemae.com. This new tool, which is currently in pilot, will replace Desktop Trader® for lenders who want to sell loans for cash to Fannie Mae. It will be more broadly available in May. The announcement was made today during the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's (MBA) National Secondary Marketing Conference.

With eCommitting, lenders selling their loans for cash will benefit from quick access to many Fannie Mae products, and real-time access to live pricing. This access will allow lenders to take advantage of any changes in the market so they can sell their mortgages at the best possible price. The eCommitting tool will also help lenders facilitate better pipeline management and execution practices through flexible commitment periods. Before eCommitting, lenders were bound by strict pricing periods, but now lenders using eCommitting are able to choose pricing periods from 1 to 90 days. Additionally, because eCommitting accommodates a wide variety of Fannie Mae mortgage products, it will minimize the manual handling of commitments.

"We are pleased to offer lenders a fast, flexible, one-stop committing tool that they can access anywhere," said John Gang, Fannie Mae's vice president of asset acquisition and custody. "Our new eCommitting tool continues our commitment to providing lenders the highest level of customer service."

A major enhancement to the Web-based tool also includes the lender's ability to customize eCommitting by identifying products committed most often and quickly browse prices for those products. Lenders can also rename those products within the application to more closely align with the product-marketing brand used in their local market place.

"We are excited about Fannie Mae's new eCommitting tool," said Scott Fecteau, senior vice president of secondary marketing at Associated Mortgage, Inc., Green Bay, WI. "Being one of Fannie Mae's largest cash customers, cash committing is obviously an important part of our business, and being able to quickly view pricing changes on the spot for the products we use most will allow us to make the commitment decisions that are most beneficial and profitable to us."

More information on Fannie Mae's eCommitting tool can be found at the company's business-to-business Web site, http://www.efanniemae.com.

Source: Fannie Mae


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