Fannie Mae Issues Guidance Regarding Remote Ink-signed Notarizations

Fannie Mae updated its Selling Guide announcing specific requirements for remote ink-signed notarizations (RIN) for loans issued on or after July 1.

Fannie Mae had issued temporary RIN guidance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the increase in audio-visual aided notarizations, both for remote online and RIN, Fannie Mae wanted to establish broad notarization requirements, including the following:

• Notarization must be in accordance with and in compliance with laws and regulations of the state.
• When not required by law (but required by our policies), notarization must be recognized as valid by the law of the state where the property is located or where the notary is registered and acting under notarial authority of that jurisdiction.
• Notarizations are acceptable when conducted outside of the U.S. if it complies with the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is performed or contains an apostille certification.

The RIN standards address documentation or authentication (including minimum audio-visual requirements), system requirements and recording capability.

Minimum Standards for Audio-visual Methods

Additional requirements:

• The lender must maintain, or cause to be retained, the recording of the portions of the notarial ceremony conducted via the audio-video technology for the greater of 10 years, or the minimum period required by applicable law, in accordance with the requirements above.
• The mortgage loan may not be a Texas Section 50(a)(6) loan.
• If the loan document is required to be recorded, then the county recorder in the state and county where the property is located must accept the document for recording.
• If the document is a security instrument or an amendment to a security instrument, the audio-visual aided remote ink-signed notarization must comply with the title requirements in B7-2-04, Special Title Insurance Coverage Considerations (09/02/2020) and the title insurance company may not take any exception for the audio-visual aided remote ink-signed notarization.

ALTA supports passage of the bipartisan SECURE Notarization Act of 2021 (S. 1625), which would allow notaries in all states to perform RON transactions and create national standards requiring use of tamper-evident technology, multifactor authentication of a signer and retention of an audio-visual recording of the notarial act.

Resources for he SECURE Notarization Act

• Summary of the bill
• How does the SECURE Notarization Act Impact My State