The Loan Review System (LRS) is the electronic platform for most Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Title II Single Family quality assurance review processes, including:
- Various Post-Endorsement Loan Reviews
- Unconditional Direct Endorsement Authority Test Cases
- Lender Monitoring Reviews
- Lender Self-Reporting of Fraud and Other Material Findings
Functions and Features
- Communicates findings using FHA's Defect Taxonomy
- Consolidates most quality assurance functions into one system
- Automates various manual processes and communications
- Organizes and prioritizes requests for lender responses
- Streamlines submission of required documents
- Enhances loan quality reporting and analytics
- LRS User Manual - Updated January 1, 2020
FHA Defect Taxonomy
The Defect Taxonomy is FHA's method of identifying defects at the loan-level. It provides clarity and transparency into existing FHA quality assurance processes and is used to describe findings through the Loan Review System (LRS) based on HUD policy requirements. The FHA Defect Taxonomy provides useful data and feedback through structured categorization of defects and their sources, causes, and severities. For more predictable review outcomes, potential remedies that align with severity tiers are listed in each defect area.
Appendix 8.0 – FHA Defect Taxonomy includes the content implemented with version 2 of the Defect Taxonomy, effective for loan reviews as of January 1, 2020. It supersedes the originally published version which was implemented through LRS in 2017 and applicable for loan reviews through December 31, 2019. Appendix 8.0 – FHA Defect Taxonomy is part of the FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1.
User Roles
Lenders use LRS to interact with FHA on the majority of Title II Single Family quality assurance processes. All users access LRS through FHA Connection (FHAC) via the "Loan Review System" link on FHAC's Single Family FHA Business Areas screen. For any FHAC user ID that requires access to LRS, the organization's FHAC Application Coordinator must grant specific LRS authorizations in the "Loan Review System" section of the FHAC ID Administration screen. For more information on registering new users in FHAC, please reference the online FHA Connection Guide.
LRS has three user roles that may be assigned to users, each with different access levels and authority to perform specific functions:
- Read Only: Provides access to the Active Reviews, Completed Reviews, and Reports menu items. Users with this role can view detailed review results, but they cannot edit or submit responses, upload documents, manage binder requests or create self-reports.
- Response Submission: Provides access to the Active Reviews, Binder Request, Create Self-Report, Completed Reviews, and Reports menu items. Users with this role can view detailed review results, edit and submit responses to review findings, upload documents, and/or create self-reports.
- Indemnification Submission: Provides access to all functions included in the Response Submission role, and allows the user to electronically sign and submit indemnification agreements in response to unacceptable findings. Users with this role must have the authority to legally bind the institution.
Other Important User Roles
Onboarding to LRS requires lenders to perform certain functions in other FHA systems:
- Designate or update the Administrative Contact in the Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP). Each lender's designated Administrative Contact, as recorded in LEAP, will be the individual that receives daily email notifications summarizing any new LRS response requests.
- Assign or update FHAC user IDs through the FHAC Application Coordinator. Users will be able to access FHAC within one day of the FHAC Application Coordinator assigning or reactivating an FHAC user ID.
Take advantage of FHA's online webinar offerings to stay up-to-date on quarterly quality assurance results, most common findings, and additional guidance for lenders related to quality assurance processes.
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