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Quick Start Guide: Service Bureau Administration

  
This Quick Start page deals with access to the FHA Connection for the service bureau organizations authorized by lenders to service their loans. It explains:
• Service Bureau establishment in HUD's systems
• Service Bureau authorization and related administrative procedures
• Service Bureau user registration and internal User ID maintenance
   

Refer to the Detailed Information Resources table for in-depth, illustrated training and answers to specific questions on this process.

Service Bureau establishment in HUD's systems

Initial establishment of a service bureau for a Title II lender is done by the service bureau sending a request via e-mail to sf_premiums@hud.gov. Mortgagee Letter 97-33 explains the information that must be included in the request. To establish a service bureau for a Title I lender, call the Premiums Help Line at (800) 669-5152, x2832. Once this request is approved and the service bureau is established in HUD's systems, the service bureau can be selected and authorized by any lending institution that chooses to use its services. The service bureau then establishes its own Application Coordinator(s) and Standard Users, using the guidelines for pre-registration and registration requirements.
 

Service Bureau authorization and related administrative procedures

Lending institution Application Coordinators use Service Bureau Authorization on the ID Maintenance menu to add or remove the service bureaus associated with their institutions. They also use Service Bureau Authorization to grant or update specific access rights for each service bureau selected.

A service bureau's access rights, e.g., rights to view cases in Monthly Premiums or to make monthly (periodic) mortgage insurance premium payments to HUD via the FHA Connection, are specifically related to the servicing activities it performs for the lending institution(s) that have authorized it as their service bureau.

To assign service bureau authorizations for Title II, the lender's Application Coordinator must have Portfolio authorization for Monthly Premiums. For Title I, the lender's Application Coordinator must have authorization to at least one Title I function. Using the Service Bureau Authorization option on the ID Maintenance menu, the assigning Application Coordinator may give No Access, Query Only, or Update access for the Monthly Premium options and/or Title I options listed.

Service Bureau user registration and internal ID maintenance

Once an organization is established as a service bureau in HUD's systems, the service bureau organization functions the same way as other organizations with Standard Users (the most prevalent type of FHA Connection users):

• in establishment, registration, and HUD authorization of its own organizational Application Coordinators to perform ID maintenance tasks for its users
• in the administrative and maintenance support provided by their internal organizational Application Coordinators
• using FHA Connection Standard User processes and forms for user registration to access the FHA Connection. See the How to Register page for its discussion of the process and the service bureau registration forms (Getting Registered table).
NOTE: Once a service bureau is selected and authorized by a lending institution, the service bureau's Application Coordinator can use Service Bureau Authorization to look up current authorizations for that lender.

 

Detailed Information Resources
Subject/Type of Information
Resources
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ID Maintenance; Registration and Sign on
Explains Application Coordinator registration by user type Registering to Use the FHA Connection
Illustrated, detailed training on the user administration process and roles

User Administration; Service Bureau Administration; FHA Connection Registration Procedures
Using a Service Bureau Single Family Premium Collection Subsystem-Periodic Information Packet