Fannie Mae's Jim Johnson pledges to eliminateduplicate fees for automated underwriting;...

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1997--In a speech here Monday to the nation's leading housing lenders, Fannie Mae Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James A. Johnson said the company would lower lenders' costs of using underwriting technology in a variety of ways, including the elimination

Speaking to the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference, Johnson announced "Best Connections," Fannie Mae's (NYSE:FNM) latest initiatives to make automated mortgage underwriting technology less expensive for lenders, and even easier to use.

"Technology costs should not be a barrier to our customers' success," said Johnson. "We've listened to their concerns about the cost of access to automated underwriting systems and are taking action. One of the first steps of this initiative is to immediately begin work on eliminating the duplicate fees that lenders can be charged as they determine which of several underwriting avenues they wish to undertake."

"We call these new steps `Best Connections' because through these initiatives, we will help create the best possible connections between lenders and their customers, as well as between lenders and the variety of technologies they now employ. These improvements will mean cost and time savings for consumers, greater efficiencies for mortgage lenders, and the improved interconnection of different automated systems in use today," Johnson told conference attendees.

Johnson announced that Fannie Mae will achieve the following goals by Oct. 1, 1997:

1. Eliminate Duplicate Fees and Increase Ease of Use

-- To seek elimination of duplicate underwriting fees, Fannie Mae

will complete three pilots with lenders designed to test new

pricing approaches for the company's Desktop Underwriter system.

In Pilot 1, lenders would pay a nominal service charge for

using the system and would only pay the full fee if they then go

on to deliver the loan to Fannie Mae. In Pilot 2, lenders would

pay a periodic licensing fee in lieu of individual loan-by-loan