Encompass 23.3 Release Notes - Banker Edition

Encompass 23.3 Major Release
(Version 23.3.0.0/23.3.0.1 Server Patch 1)

These are the release notes for the Encompass 23.3 Major Release. They include a high-level overview of new features, feature and form enhancements, and fixed issue, followed by more detailed information and instructions where appropriate.

These release notes also provide information about updates to the 23.3 release (23.3.0.1 Server Patch 1) that were made available on October 7, 2023 to address issues discovered during testing.

Refer to the online help and the Guides & Documents page for additional information and related documents.

This Encompass 23.3 Major Release will be applied to your users' computers automatically and cannot be controlled manually via the Encompass Version Manager tool. Users will receive the update upon their initial log in of Encompass following the release.

What's in This Release

Highlights of this release include the following:

  • Tools to Deliver Year-End Compliance Updates (FHA County Limits, Conventional County Limits, Federal Threshold Limits) - Enhancements were made in Encompass 23.2, and now in Encompass 23.3, to deliver year-end compliance updates seamlessly without the need for a critical patch update late in the year. ICE Mortgage Technology will announce when the new limits provided by the government agencies is available in Encompass. Use the new FHA County Limits, Conventional County Limits, Federal Threshold Limits tools to synchronize the new limits with your Encompass instance.

  • Project Review Tool for Condominiums - Use this tool to capture condominium details for a subject property that can then be used for the project approval process. The tool consists of existing field and new fields that are all editable.

  • Supplemental Insurance Updates - Some input forms and modal windows in previous versions of Encompass that display insurance values were missing the Supplemental Insurance field. Depending on the form purpose, the present supplemental insurance (field ID URLA.X212) and/or the proposed supplemental insurance (field ID URLA.X144) have been added to display on some input forms. For some input forms, new supplemental insurance fields were created to correspond with the field types on those forms.

  • Affordable Loan Enhancements - A new Affordable Loan Eligibility section has been added to the Borrower Summary - Origination, Fannie Mae Additional Data, and Freddie Mac Additional Data input forms to enable Encompass users to view factors that help determine whether a loan is a good candidate for an affordable loan program such as USDA. The new section provides two new buttons used to manually look up census, income, and metropolitan area data and to populate the fields in this section with the Area Median Income (AMI) values for the area where the subject property is located.

  • Freddie Mac 5.3 Updates - Updates have been made to the Freddie Mac Additional Data input form to remove fields that are no longer needed because they are available on other input forms. As part of the update, various sections have been reorganized and the Purchase Credit Source section has been removed entirely since the fields in that section are no longer on the form.

    • A new Accessory Dwelling Unit section with new fields has been added to the Section 4: Loan and Property Information portion of the 1003 URLA Part 4 input form. Use this section to capture ADU details for a subject property.

    • On the Freddie Mac Additional Data input form, HeritageOne is now available to select from the Offering Identifier drop-down list (CASASRN.X209).

  • Additional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Input Form Updates - The following GSE-related updates have been made:
    • A new field for Truv (field ID GSEVENDOR.X50) has been added to the Universal Credit 4506T section of the GSE Additional Provider Data input form. Users leveraging Freddie Mac’s Asset and Income Modeler (AIM) through the Loan Product Advisor® (LPA) may use this new AIM for income and employment service provider starting in Q3 2023.
    • A new field called Community Land Trust Lessor Name (field ID 4988) is now provided on the Fannie Mae Additional Data and Freddie Mac Additional Data input forms. Enter the name of the Lessor in this field.

    • To help ensure the logic to populate the Counseling Confirmation and Counseling Format type information on the Fannie Mae ULDD XML adheres to Fannie Mae’s Appendix D requirements, the loan-level First-Time Homebuyer field (field ID 934) on the ULDD/PDD input form has been replaced with two new borrower-level fields: Borrower First-Time Homebuyer (field ID 4973) and Co-Borrower First Time Homebuyer (field ID 4974).

    • Two new fields have been added to the Fannie Mae Additional Data and Freddie Mac Additional Data input forms to enable the user to document when a Borrower acknowledges and accepts that an appraisal is not being obtained for a transaction: Property Inspection Waiver Accepted (field ID 4954) and PIW Accepted Date (field ID 4955).

  • New Property Disaster Declarations Section Added to Property Information Input Form - A new Property Disaster Declarations section has been added to the Property Information input form to enable users to create multiple records of disasters affecting a property on different date if needed.
  • Two new read-only credit fields have been added to the Quick Entry - AUS Details screen to store the credit report types and IDs that were used with the AUS order submitted to the Government Agencies: Credit Reference ID (field ID AUS.X201) and Credit Report Type (field ID AUS.X202).

  • New Rate Options Added to Index Rate Drop-Down Field Lists - New WSJ Prime Rate and Freddie Mac PMM rate options are now provided in ARM Index Rate drop-down field lists for ARM Index Type (field ID 1959), ARM Index Type (field ID 4512), and Index + Margin (field ID LE2.X96).

  • New Preferred Contact Method Section to Track Best Time and Method for Contacting Borrowers - A new Preferred Contact Method section has been added to the Borrower Origination - Summary input form, the 1003 URLA - Page 1 input form, and to the Non-Borrowing Owner entries in the File Contacts tool to enable Encompass users to enter information about the preferred methods for contacting a borrower or co-borrower. (email, phone, text, etc.) along with the best time to reach them.

  • Encompass eClose Now Supports Partner Document Delivery - Encompass eClose now supports Partner document delivery. For lenders who have integrated and enabled document management vendors with their Encompass instance, they can send closing documents to recipients through the vendor instead of the default Encompass Docs Solution that is used with Encompass eClose.

  • New 4 Years and 5 Years Enumerations Added to Penalty Term Field - New 4 Years and 5 Years enumerations can be entered in the Penalty Term (field ID 2964) field on the Lock Request Form, and can be selected in the Penalty Term (field ID 2217) on the Secondary Registration tool.

  • Updated Total Pair Off Amt Field on View Trade Summary Pop Up Window - Currently in Encompass, the Total Pair Off Amt field on the View Trade Summary pop up window is always blank because it is not mapped to another field. As part of this release, the field has been updated to be mapped to the Total Pair Off Amt field on the loan trade’s Details tab.

  • New MI Center - Use this service to enjoy the benefits of an enhanced integration with all IMT-supported mortgage insurance service providers for a more streamlined mortgage insurance ordering process

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Attention Encompass Administrators!

In addition to the important updates listed above, the following Encompass 23.3 features and settings may require additional action by the Encompass administrator. For example, by configuring or adjusting options in the Encompass settings, or reviewing and revising existing business rules affected by the new features. Please review these features to determine whether updates are required for your Encompass settings or business rules. In addition, refer to the Encompass Settings sections of the Feature Enhancements and Fixed Issues pages for specific information about new and updated Encompass settings.

Refer to the Encompass Administrator Checklist for the 23.3 Major Release  for a list of Encompass settings to review and adjust to support the policies and procedures you use when working with your installation of Encompass.

  • Tools to Deliver Year-End Compliance Updates (FHA County Limits, Conventional County Limits, Federal Threshold Limits) - Enhancements were made in Encompass 23.2, and now in Encompass 23.3, to deliver year-end compliance updates seamlessly without the need for a critical patch update late in the year. ICE Mortgage Technology will announce when the new limits provided by the government agencies is available in Encompass. Use the new FHA County Limits, Conventional County Limits, Federal Threshold Limits tools to synchronize the new limits with your Encompass instance. Administrators can manage user access to these settings via the Personas settings.

  • Project Review Tool for Condominiums - Use this tool to capture condominium details for a subject property that can then be used for the project approval process. The tool consists of existing field and new fields that are all editable. Administrators can manage user access to this new Project Review tool via the Personas setting.

  • Affordable Loan Enhancements - A new Affordable Loan Eligibility section has been added to the Borrower Summary - Origination, Fannie Mae Additional Data, and Freddie Mac Additional Data input forms to enable Encompass users to view factors that help determine whether a loan is a good candidate for an affordable loan program such as USDA. The new section provides two new buttons used to manually look up census, income, and metropolitan area data and to populate the fields in this section with the Area Median Income (AMI) values for the area where the subject property is located.

    • The AMI values are provided from the new Encompass setting called Area Median Income (AMI) Limits. This setting lenders with the most recent AMI for specific geographic areas. The last two years of AMI data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is available to download. The table provides the Year, FIPS Code, State, County, and AMI Limits (100%, 80%, 50%).

  • New APIs for Loan Trades and MBS Pools - Two new APIs, Get Trade Details and Get Trade History, have been created for loan trades and MBS pools.

  • New Conventional County Loan Limits Settings Screen - A new Conventional County Loan Limits screen is now provided in Encompass Settings to enable administrators to view and manage the conventional loan limits that are available from the FHFA website. This setting is located in Encompass Settings > Tables and Fees > Conventional County Limits.

  • New Developer Connect Personas Settings - In the Personas setting, a new Developer Connect tab is now available. Use the options provided on this tab to manage user permissions for subscribing to webhooks and the Enhanced Field Change webhook.

  • New Personas Options for Ordering Pre-Closing Documents - In the Personas setting, new Order Pre-Closing Docs options are available on the Loan tab. Use the options to select tasks that can be carried out during the loan’s pre-Closing process.

  • New Personas Option for Default Pipeline View in Web Version of Encompass - In the Personas setting, new Pipeline Default options are available on the Web Version tab. Use the options to manage the version of the Pipeline, Loan Pipeline or Task Pipeline that will display when the user logs into the web version of Encompass.

  • Consumer Status Field Added to Milestone Details - A new Consumer Status field is now available on the Milestone Details screen used to set up milestone properties. In the Consumer Status field, type a custom Encompass Consumer Connect status to be assigned to the milestone. When a Consumer Connect status is populated in the Milestone settings, that value will display in the Status column on the Consumer Connect loan pipeline when the matching milestone is current.

  • New Encompass eClose Settings Option in Encompass Admin Tools - A new option to enable users utilizing Encompass eClose to send closing documents to third parties has been added to the Settings Manager in Encompass Admin Tools. This option enables Encompass eClose to support Encompass Loan Connect.

  • Refer to the Encompass Field Look Up self-service tool in the Resource Center for a list of input form fields in Encompass.

System Requirements & SDK Upgrade Requirement for Encompass

Have you reviewed the latest System Requirements and upgraded the SDK?

Before downloading or applying this new Encompass release, it is important to verify the latest system requirements for Encompass client machines. Please review the System Requirements for Encompass to ensure your environment meets the requirements needed to operate Encompass successfully.

The Encompass Software Development Kit (SDK) enables developers to build custom applications that can be added on, or connected to, Encompass and the ICE Mortgage Technology Platform. If you are utilizing the Encompass SDK, a major Encompass release like this one requires you to upgrade the Encompass SDK run time environment to match the newly updated Encompass Server. If you fail to upgrade the SDK, your application will not be permitted to connect to the updated Encompass Server.

If your SDK application utilizes the Encompass SmartClient, you can automate this process so the SDK is upgraded automatically every time you apply an Encompass release. If your SDK application is installed on a computer at your location, you must manually upgrade the SDK for every release. For instructions for automating the upgrade process or manually upgrading the SDK, refer to the Upgrading the Encompass SDK page or view the SDK Programmer’s Guide.

Install Files and Downloads

Visit the Encompass SDK and Other Install Files page to access the latest download links to the SDK and common tools, including eFolder print drivers and the Encompass Document Converter.

 

Next Section: Feature Enhancements