AI Readiness Review, FNMA Servicing Changes, and a FNMA Guide Announcement
AI Readiness Review Weekly Series, Week 1
Written by: Rob Ellis, Senior Compliance Consultant, CRA & Fair Lending Specialist
Over the few weeks, I will provide AI insight into AI policies, oversight questions examiners and investors are asking and what SCA’s new AI Readiness Review does about them.
So Let’s Begin!
Does your Institution Actually Use AI?
Most institutions answer this question with a confident “no”. that response is worth a second look.
Artificial intelligence did not arrive in most shops as a project with a budget, an owner, and a binder. It arrived as a feature. A servicing platform adds a model. A marketing tool starts drafting borrower messages. A productivity product starts reading documents. A collections workflow starts prioritizing accounts. None of it was labeled "AI" when it was turned on.
So….when someone asks whether the institution uses AI, the honest answer is often: "We don't know."
That is not a compliance failure. It is a visibility gap — and it is the most common one we are seeing.
State examiners now have a public framework for asking exactly this question, and they are told to check the answer against the institution's vendor inventory, software inventory, and recent product changes before accepting a "no." In other words, the burden of proof has shifted. "We don't use AI" is no longer a sufficient answer on its own.
The institutions that will struggle here are not the ones that bought a chatbot. They are the ones that cannot produce a straight answer about what is already running.
What an AI Readiness Review starts with is not a policy. It is a conversation about what is actually in use — including the tools you have paid for for years.
If you are not sure you could answer this question in one sitting, that is the conversation to have now. Reach out to us today!
Other Featured Items:
Information provided by Heather Papows, Senior Consultant, Loan Servicing & Secondary Market
FHA’s TOTAL Scorecard Latest Updates for the Implementation of Alternative Credit Scores
See October 8, 2026 update below:
https://www.hud.gov/stat/sfh/fha-total
and we cannot forget about FNMA Servicing Changes and a FNMA Seller Guide Announcement
There are changes coming that are a broader issue, FNMA Connect (report central) is retiring the support of .xls and moving everyone to use .xlsx. This change will affect any report(s) servicers may be using and servicers need to make sure to update their process to pull the .xlsx version on a go forward basis.
https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/media/47706/display
FNMA Seller Guide Announcement (in case you missed it)
