Accurate Group, a provider of real estate appraisal, title and compliance services, announced Jan. 21 that it’s enhancing its appraisal processes, updating its Valuation Compliance Report (VCR) and providing more comprehensive training and certification for its appraisal review team in preparation of Fannie Mae’s launch of Collateral Underwriter. 

As of Jan. 26, Fannie Mae is making its Collateral Underwriter tool available to lenders and appraisal management companies, enabling them to take full advantage of this application for quality control and risk purposes. This action moves appraisal risk, data integrity and overall appraisal quality from the back end of the loan sale process to the front end. This change could have an immediate impact on lender underwriting procedures.

Accurate Group has been proactively communicating with Fannie Mae to incorporate the new requirements into its turnkey service offerings to ensure a seamless transition for its lenders. In addition to putting its entire appraisal review team through a series of Fannie Mae training and certification sessions, Accurate Group has modified its appraisal review processes to incorporate Collateral Underwriter into the workflow.

In addition, the company has enhanced its proprietary Accurate VCR product to include new rules necessary to ensure all hard stop proprietary messages are addressed. Accurate VCR now will automatically alert Accurate Group’s in-house appraisal review team to potential red flags, allowing them to address the issues prior to submitting the appraisal to the lender or to Fannie Mae. With Accurate VCR, Accurate Group can enforce the rules either at the appraiser level or at its review team level for added flexibility in delivering service and quality to clients.

“Our clients rely on us to stay ahead of the compliance curve, so we’ve been proactively planning for the Fannie Mae CU changes,” Accurate Group President and CEO Paul Doman said. “We have the processes, technology and team in place to help lenders adhere to the new Fannie Mae requirements and are prepared to make this change a smooth transition for them. This is one of the benefits our clients gain by choosing an appraisal management and compliance company such as Accurate Group over just a standard AMC. With Accurate Group, compliance is never an afterthought — it is engrained in our business and in every product and service we offer.”