The Uniform Residential Loan Application, or the 1003 form, was created by the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as Fannie Mae, to be used as an industry standard by all mortgage lenders. The 1003 form is filled twice before the mortgage transaction is completed; it is first filled during the initial stage of the mortgage application, then later completed just before closing to verify the agreed loan terms.
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, also known as Freddie Mac, and its sister organization Fannie Mae are lending institutions that were created by Congress to guarantee adequate liquidity in the U.S mortgage industry. The two lenders are tasked with buying mortgage loans from the primary lenders in order to ensure that primary lenders have the necessary liquidity to continue offering loans to borrowers.
The loans bought by the two institutions are either sold to qualified investors as mortgage-backed securities (MBS), or are kept as part of the institutions’ portfolios. Given the significant role that both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae play in the U.S mortgage markets, most lenders prefer to use the 1003 form, or the Form 65, which is its equivalent from Freddie Mac. The two institutions only purchase mortgages that are documented using the two forms.
What Is in the 1003 Form?
The 1003 form typically requests for all the necessary information that a lender needs in order to assess whether the borrower is capable of repaying the loan they have requested. The initial information required in the form is meant to ascertain the identity of the borrower.
The 1003 form also requires the borrower to enter a minimum of two years of their employment history in order to determine the reliability and the financial security of each borrower. This means that if you have a sporadic employment history where you are changing jobs every month, you may not be a good candidate for a mortgage.
Some sections of the form require the borrower to list all their assets and liabilities as well as the total monthly income for their household and their recurrent monthly expenditures. This information is critical to the lender as it enables them to establish whether the borrower can comfortably afford the monthly mortgage payments.
Filling Out the 1003 Form
The 1003 form is typically a 5-page document with ten sections that must be filled with basic information about the borrower, which could be quite intimidating to a first-time borrower. However, in most cases your loan officer will guide you as you fill the form so that you provide accurate information on the form. The ten sections are as follows:
Section I: This section asks for information about the type of loan the borrower is requesting and the amount they want.
Section 2: Covers details of the property including the potential owner and the source of funds for the down payment.
Section 3: Borrower’s personal details including age and address.
Section 4: Covers the borrower’s employment history.
Section 5: Monthly income and recurrent household expenses.
Section 6: Liabilities and assets and their ratio with one another.
Section 7: Details of the mortgage transaction.
Section 8: Declarations regarding issues that may affect borrower’s finances.
Section 9: Acknowledgment and agreement by signing the form.
Section 10: Information on race and ethnic origin for government monitoring.
A Word of Caution
The borrower must ensure that all sections are accurately filled and that there are no blank spaces given that any omissions or inaccurate information may be considered as mortgage fraud by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
