An issue with the Borrower Summary - Origination input form was introduced in Encompass 23.3 where the Subject Property Information section of the form was overlapping/hiding the Transaction Details section heading. This prevented loan team members from accessing the Product and Pricing and Access Lenders buttons provided in the section heading. This issue has been resolved and the Transaction Details and associated buttons now display correctly as shown here.

The First-Time Homebuyer field (field ID 934) had an issue where it was not automatically updating to Yes or No like it should have in loans with multiple borrowers or borrower pairs. Specifically, field 934 was not automatically updating when a borrower or borrower pair was removed from the loan. For example, when the Borrower First-Time Homebuyer field (field ID 4973) was set to No and the Co-Borrower First-Time Homebuyer field (field ID 4974) was set to Yes, field ID 934 automatically updated to Yes correctly. However, if the co-borrower was later removed from the loan, field 934 did not automatically update to No. It incorrectly remained as Yes. To address this issue, a recalculation of field 934 is now triggered when a borrower or borrower pair is removed.

By default, the First-Time Homebuyer field (field ID 934) automatically populates based on the values in fields 4973 and 4974. If the field is later locked and a value is manually entered in the First-Time Homebuyer field, it will not automatically update based on fields 4973 and 4974.

In previous versions of Encompass, the Discount Points field (field ID 1093) on the 1003 URLA - Lender input form was not calculating seller obligated discount points correctly. When the discount points entered on line 802e on the 2015 Itemization were seller obligated, these discount points were not applied to the Discount Points calculation for field 1093. As a result, when the seller obligated fees were more than the borrower obligated fees, the Estimated Closing Costs field (field ID 137) was being cleared out and the cash to close amount was then overstated. This issue has been addressed. Seller-obligated fees for line 802e, f, g, and h are now excluded from the Total Seller Amount when Encompass compares borrower obligated closing costs to seller obligated closing costs. In addition, the Discount Points field (field ID 1046) on the FHA Maximum Mortgage and Cash Needed Worksheet has been updated so that when the discount points are seller obligated, field 1046 is cleared out/blank.

For existing, non-active (field ID 1393) loans created prior to Encompass 24.1, fields 137, 1046, and 1093 are locked so they retain their current values. (If you unlock any of those fields on a non-active loan, the new logic will apply on the non-active loan.) For active (field ID 1393) loans created prior to Encompass 24.1, these fields will be locked only if initial disclosures have been sent. If no disclosures have been sent, the fields are recalculated using the new logic described above the next time the loan file is opened.

When co-mortgagors are listed in a loan file, the Monthly Debt Allowed (field ID PREQUAL.X8) field has been updated to be calculated based on the total income documented in the file (field ID 1389). Prior to Encompass 24.1, Encompass was calculating the Monthly Debt Allowed based on the income of the first borrower pair only.

Workaround Description

The following workaround was provided for this production issue and is no longer required for the Encompass 24.1 release and later:

• Enter co-mortgagors income on other on the first borrower pair and PREQUAL.X8 will calculate from field 1389

In previous versions of Encompass, the Intent to Proceed checkbox (field ID 3164) could only be selected once the Actual Received Date for the Loan Estimate (LE) for the primary borrower was populated. In loans with borrower and co-borrower, if the co-borrower acknowledged the disclosure package prior to the borrower, the Intent to Proceed checkbox was inactive (grayed-out) and could not be selected by the co-borrower. This prevented them from recording an accurate Intent to Proceed date. This issue has been addressed and the Intent to Proceed checkbox is now accessible for co-borrowers regardless of the primary borrower’s interaction with the disclosure package.

(Updated on 3/20/2024) 

In previous versions of Encompass, the system logic was populating 2. Not a high-cost mortgage to the HOEPA Status field (field ID HMDA.X13) for loans for investment properties and second properties (based on the value in field 1811 (Property will be)). However, based on CFPB high-cost mortgages rules [12 CFR § 1026.32(a)(1)], investment properties and second properties should be indicated as 3. Not applicable in the HOEPA Status field. This new system logic will take effect in Encompass 24.1

For existing loans originated prior to Encompass 24.1, the HOEPA Status field will be recalculated using the new system logic when the loan is opened and saved.

When the Use Actual Down Payment and Closing Costs Financed (field ID LE2.X30) checkbox was selected and the loan amount was changed, the Closing Costs Financed (field ID LE2.X1) value was not updated, though it should have been. This issue has been resolved.

It was discovered that Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter (DU) was calculating the CLTV/HCLTV differently than Encompass in loans where the Verification of Additional Loans (VOAL) form’s HELOC Initial Draw amount was more than the Amount Applied to Down Payment. When DU was ordered for a loan like this (VOAL loan type is HELOC), it was calculating the CLTV and HCLTV based on the Amount Applied to Down Payment (field ID URLARAL0022) and not the HELOC Initial Draw (field ID URLARAL0121). This resulted in DU showing a lower CLTV and HCLTV than what Encompass was showing in the loan file. Encompass has been updated to ensure DU and Encompass reflect the same CLTV and HCLTV amounts in this scenario. The calculation for the total VOAL (URLA.X230) has been adjusted to calculate the full initial draw amount when the additional loan type is a HELOC. Previously, Encompass was using only a portion of the initial draw used toward Closing Costs in its calculation.

The Funding Worksheet has been updated for HELOC loans to ensure that the draw amount (field ID 1888) is included in calculation for the Wire Transfer Amount field (field ID 1990). Previously, the total HELOC loan amount (field ID 2) was used in the calculation for the Wire Transfer Amount. Since HELOC loans only fund using the draw amount, this update helps ensure that lenders do not over fund the transaction by using the total loan amount.

Workaround Description:

The following workaround was provided for this production issue and is no longer required for the Encompass 24.1 release and later:

1. Input the remaining principal that is not part of the initial draw as a negative in Overwire Amount (field 2005).
2. Create a custom field to calculate Initial Advance (Field 1888) - Loan Amount (Field 1109).
3. Create a Field Trigger Business Rule with a Condition to run only on HELOC Loans. The trigger is any change to the custom field created in step 1 copies to field 2005.

An issue occurred where City Tax tables were not being applied correctly when applied with a Closing Costs template. In Closing Costs templates where line 1204 Transfer Tax was populated with a defined City Tax table that resulted in 0.00 being populated to the borrower-paid fee (field 647) on line 1204, when the Closing Costs template was applied to the loan, the borrower-paid fee (field 647) on line 1204 was populated with 0.00. Field 647 should have been populated with a value based on the City Tax table and relevant loan data calculation.

This issue has been resolved so that the borrower-paid fee (field 647) on line 1204 in the loan is now calculated correctly based on the City Tax table and relevant loan data.

Notes:

• This fix applies only to new Closing Costs templates.
• If a Closing Costs template created prior to Encompass 24.1 has 0.00 populated in field 647 based on the City Tax table calculation and it’s applied to the loan, then 0.00 will be populated to field 647 in the loan. To resolve this issue in existing Closing Costs templates like this, manually delete 0.00 from field 647 in the Closing Costs template, and then reapply the template to the loan.
• Manually entered values in the Closing Costs template will override calculated values when the template is applied. If the administrator has manually entered 0.00 in field 647 in the template, then 0.00 will be populated to field 647 in the loan when the template is applied.

For Construction loans where the lot is owned free and clear, Encompass now calculates the Loan to Value (LTV) ratio as a Limited Refinance transaction in accordance with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidance. Previously, the LTV for these loans was calculated as a Purchase transaction.

In addition to the new calculation being applied to these loans, the Lot/Land Status section of the Construction Management > Loan Info tab has been updated:

• The Initial Acquisition checkbox (field ID 1964) has been renamed to Initial Acquisition (Not Owned).

  • If selected, the transaction is for the purchase of the real property upon which the dwelling will be constructed and for the construction of the dwelling. For the LE/CD, the Purpose will be a Purchase transaction. The LTV will be based on the lesser of As Completed Purchase Price (CONST.X58) or As Completed Appraised Value (CONST.X59).

• The Refinance checkbox (field ID Constr.Refi) has been renamed to Refinance (Owned).

  • If selected, the transaction is for the construction of a dwelling on real property that is already owned by the borrower(s) and there is existing debt owed on the property. For the LE/CD, the Purpose will be a Refinance. The LTV will be based on the As Completed Appraised Value (CONST.X59).

• A new checkbox is now provided: Lot Owned Free and Clear (field ID 5015). This field is read-only by default, but is enabled for editing when the Refinance (Owned) checkbox is selected first.

  • When both the Refinance (Owned) and the Lot Owned Free and Clear checkboxes are selected, Construction is automatically populated to the loan’s Purpose field (field ID LE1.X4) on the Loan Estimate (LE) Page 1 and Closing Disclosure (CD) Page 1.
  • If selected, the transaction is for the construction of a dwelling on real property that is already owned by the borrower(s) and there is no existing debt owed on the property. For the LE/CD, the Purpose will be Construction. The LTV will be based on the As Completed Appraised Value (CONST.X59).

Note that the above changes were also made to the Lot/Land Status section on the 1003 URLA - Lender, 1003 URLA Part 4, RegZ-LE, and RegZ-CD input forms.

Encompass was calculating the earliest month that the maximum loan payment adjustment could occur (field ID LE1.X25) incorrectly for Fixed Rate, Construction Only loans with terms under 24 months. For these loans, the adjustment could occur in month 1, but field LE1.X25 was reflecting month 2. This occurred because Encompass was counting the balloon payment as the first payment change. This issue has been addressed to ensure field ID LE1.X25 is now calculated correctly. Please note the following:

• This issue has been fixed for Fixed Rate, Construction Only loans with terms less than or equal to 24 months and the construction method (field ID SYS.X6) is A (Half Loan).
• This fix only addresses the issue for field LE1.X25, but not for field LE1.X26 (the maximum month that the payment includes only interest and no principal) for Fixed Rate, Construction Only loans with terms longer than 24 months. Field LE1.X26 was calculated incorrectly in previous versions of Encompass for Fixed Rate, Construction Only loans with terms longer than 24 months and this will not be addressed in Encompass 24.1.

This updated calculation will be applied to existing loans as well as new loans created in Encompass 24.1. This ensures the earliest month for maximum loan payment adjustment calculation is more precise and improves the integrity of the loan data.

Workaround Information

The following workaround was provided for this production issue and is no longer required for the Encompass 24.1 release and later:

• Create a Trigger Business Rule with an Advanced Condition to Lock field LE1.X25 and change the value to 1.

New field enumerations were introduced in the VA Purpose of Loan dropdown field (field ID VASUMM.X155) on the VA 26-1820 Loan Disbursement input form in Encompass 23.1. By design, this drop-down field was displayed on the input form in loans with an Application Date (field ID 745) and GFE Application date (field ID 3142) on or after 4/1/2023. For loans with an Application Date or GFE Application Date prior to 4/1/2023, the Purpose of Loan dropdown field (field ID 28) with different enumerations was used on this form.

Starting in Encompass 24.1, the VA Purpose of Loan field (field ID VASUMM.X155) is used on the VA 26-1820 Loan Disbursement input form in new loans by default (i.e., field 745 and field 3142 are both blank).

• In loans where field 745 and 3142 use dates on or after 4/1/2023, the VA Purpose of Loan field (field ID VASUMM.X155) is used on the form.
• In loans where field 745 or 3142 use dates prior to 4/1/2023, the Purpose of Loan (field ID 28) dropdown field is used on the form.
• In existing loans that are accessed after upgrading to Encompass 24.1, if field 745 is blank and field 3142 uses a date on or after 4/1/2023, field VASUMM.X155 will now be used on the form. (In previous versions of Encompass, field 28 would have been used on the form in this scenario.)

Field ID VASUMM.X155:

The General QM Price Limit Exceeded alert has been updated to trigger only if the General Qualified Mortgage (field ID QM.X40) does not meet the ATR/QM standard. Prior to Encompass 24.1, this alert was based on the General Qualified Mortgage (field ID QM.X40) and the actual Price Limit indicator (QM.X384), which resulted in the alert being triggered even when the loan met the price limit requirements.

As part of this update, the default message displayed with the alert has been updated to:

The terms of the loan do not meet General QM Standards for a Price-Based General QM loan.

Previously, the message was:

The pricing exceeds the limit for General QM. Review the pricing associated with the maximum payment in the first five years.

Note that the default message may be edited by the administrator.

An issue occurred for FHA loans with the Encompass Compliance Service (ECS). FHA loans indicated as exempt from ATR/QM (based on field ID QM.X103), would receive an ERROR result for the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Review performed by ECS along with this message:

Qualified Mortgage Type (FHA Qualified Mortgage) not valid for Ability to Repay Loan Type [Exempt].

ECS was triggering this error based on the Qualified Mortgage Loan Type (field ID QM.X24) field in the ATR/QM Management input form. Encompass was auto-populating FHA QM to this field based on the FHA loan type.

Since the FHA loan was indicated as exempt from ATR/QM, Encompass should not have populated field QM.X24 with FHA QM. This issue has been resolved. In this scenario, field QM.X24 remains blank and the ECS review recognizes the loan as exempt from ATR/QM and provides a PASS result for the ATR/QM Review.

Encompass 24.1

Workaround Description:

The following workaround was provided for this production issue and is no longer required for the Encompass 24.1 release and later:

• Lock down the QM type and set the value to null.

VOAL (Verification of Additional Loans) records can be created in two ways:

• System generated when a linked loan is created
• Manually created by users

In previous versions of Encompass, the following issues with system-generated VOALs occurred and have now been addressed:

• When a user created a linked loan, Encompass was generating the VOAL record in the current borrower pair rather than only in the primary borrower pair. This has been fixed, so that the VOAL is always created in the primary pair.
• If a loan was previously linked and already had a system-generated VOAL, if it was then linked again, duplicate system-generated VOALs were being created. This has been fixed, so that the system does not generate VOALs in the loan again if there is already a system-generated VOAL. (Note that system-generated VOALs will be created if there is already a manually created VOAL on the loan.)

This update applies to new loans created in Encompass 24.1 and later. For existing loans where the system-generated VOAL has already been duplicated or erroneously added to the non-primary borrower pair(s) record, users will need to manually address the duplicate VOALs in the loans.

When the first lien of a piggyback loan was updated via a trade, the First Mortgage (P&I) (field ID 1724) value was getting copied into the Subordinate Lien(s) (P&I) field (field ID 1725). This issue has been resolved.

After switching a Verification of Employment (VOE) record from Borrower to CoBorrower, the Gross Monthly Income field values on the VOE were not populated to the corresponding Co-Borrower Stable Monthly Income fields (field IDs 110, 1146, 1759) on the Transmittal Summary as expected. This has been resolved, and when the VOE record is switched, the Co-Borrower income fields on the Transmittal Summary input form are updated with the correct values.

Issue in previous versions of Encompass:

When a loan team member updates the borrower name or email address after the eConsent agreement has been accepted, the eConsent Not Yet Received alert should trigger when they save the loan. However, an issue occurred where this alert did not trigger if they clicked the black X in the top-right corner of the screen to exit the loan, and then saved the loan by clicking Yes when they received the prompt “Do you want to save the changes to the current loan?”. (The alert triggered as expected when the loan team member clicked the Save icon to save the loan prior to exiting the loan file.)

This issue has been resolved and the eConsent Not Yet Received alert is now triggered if the loan team member clicks the X to exit the loan without saving the loan first, and then clicks Yes when prompted to save the loan.

Some loan team members received the following Application Error after attempting to open the AUS Tracking tool in a loan file. Specifically, loan files where the Underwriting Risk Assess Type field (field ID AUS.X1) was blank is where this error occurred:

An error occurred. Please contact the administrator with the following information:

The given key was not present in the dictionary.

The cause of this issue was identified, and it has been addressed.

The following updates have been to address issues for customers originating loans in North Carolina who generate and submit a North Carolina Compliance Report to the North Carolina Office of Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB):

• The Aggregate Account Adjustment (Field 558) is now listed in the generated report. A negative sign (“ - “) sign is now displayed when the value is negative.
• The Interest Credit value (Line 901, Field 334) is now included in the report. The value (positive or negative) is now exported with the report.
• The Title fees in the 1100 section of the report now include Title at the beginning of the fee name (just as they have for the Closing Disclosure Page 2 fee names in the report).

When a third-party company uploads a requested document (such as a title commitment or signed closing documents) to Loan Connect or Encompass Consumer Connect, a green message is now added to the Alerts & Messages tab in the Encompass loan file to notify users that the document is available to retrieve. This helps ensure users do not have to manually open and check to retrieve documents in each loan in order to determine if documents have been returned.

When attempting to retrieve documents that were returned via the Loan Connect website, users could open the eFolder and click the Retrieve button, but then then the document was not actually downloaded to the eFolder. The system would start and appear to complete the retrieval process, but the document was never made available in the eFolder. This issue has been resolved and documents from Loan Connect are now retrieved successfully.

The issues described below occurred only in Encompass instances where disclosures packages were being managed by borrowers using an Encompass Consumer Connect website that was enabled with one-time passcode (OTP) authentication options.

After clicking the eConsent button in the eFolder to request eConsent to send electronic disclosures, the Manage Notification Recipients link that users can click to add additional recipients to receive the eConsent request did not display as expected. This issue, which was introduced in Encompass 23.2, has been resolved and the link is now displayed as expected as shown below.

The issues described below occurred only in Encompass instances where disclosures packages were being managed by borrowers using an Encompass Consumer Connect website that was enabled with one-time passcode (OTP) authentication options.

Some users experienced an issue after selecting documents from the eFolder’s Documents tab and then sending the document via the Request button, where the Status column and the Requested On column for the document remained blank instead of indicating Requested and the requested on date as expected. This issue has been resolved and both of these columns are now updated to reflect the current status and date as expected.

Issue in previous versions of Encompass:

In addition, users also reported that after regenerating and resending disclosures, Informational documents (such as the Your Home Loan Toolkit or Supplemental Consumer Information form) were not being saved to their associated document container in the File Manager’s Documents list and were instead saved to the Unassigned list. This issue has also been resolved and re-sent disclosure documents are now added correctly to the Documents list in the File Manager as shown below.

Informational documents in Encompass 24.1:

Copies of Informational documents are saved to the Documents section only if the Create a document entry when Informational Documents are sent to the borrower and the Save a copy of Informational Documents options are selected in the Encompass Settings > eFolder Setup > Documents settings screen.

An issue occurred where files listed in the File Manager’s Unassigned list remained in the list after a user clicked the Auto Assign button and the file was assigned a document. This issue has been resolved and the file is now moved to the File Manager’s Documents section as expected after it is auto assigned.

Issue in previous versions of Encompass

(Added on 3/20/2024) 

Users utilizing Encompass eClose to order closing documents in certain loans were receiving error messages during the loan audit that prevented them from completing the process. The cause of this issue (related to the loan XML file size) was identified and this issue has been addressed. The error message will no longer be triggered during the loan audit due to this XML file size issue.

An issue with closing costs templates occurred where the 2015 Itemization line 1202 Recording Fees field (field ID 1636) was not reflecting the correct value for Releases. When an administrator would open the template and then click the Edit icon to update the Releases value in the pop-up window, instead of the Recording Fees displaying the new value for Releases as defined in the pop-up window, the Releases value was defaulting to $0.00 in the Recording Fees field. This caused the portion of the recording fees to be paid by the borrower (field ID 390) to be incorrect, since the true Releases amount was not included in the calculation. This issue was also reflected in the loan file when the closing costs template was applied.

This issue has been addressed. As shown below, when the Releases value is updated in the template, the new value is now indicated in the template’s Recording Fees field and included in the calculation for field 390 (borrower-paid portion of fee).

Workaround Description:

The following workaround was provided for this production issue and is no longer required for the Encompass 24.1 release and later:

• Manually update field 1636 to include the correct Releases amount.

An issue occurred with the Data Templates setting and templates that use custom audit fields set up to track changes to fields (such as Loan Type (field ID 1172)). When a data template was appended to the loan, the incorrect date/time was populated to the custom audit field. Instead of being populated with the date/time the field being audited was changed in the loan file when the template was appended to the loan, the custom audit field was being populated with the date/time the field was added to the template by the administrator in the Data Templates setting.

To address this issue, Encompass system logic has been updated as follows:

• Custom audit fields will not be saved to data templates.
• For existing data templates created before this update, audit fields in the templates will not be applied to loan files.

When administrators open the Encompass Reporting Database, the system prompts to add required fields for the NMLS report and North Carolina Mortgage Loan Data report if they are not currently in the database. An issue occurred where some fields for these reports were duplicated in the prompt. If the administrator proceeded with adding the fields to the database, an error referencing the duplicated fields was triggered in the Reporting Database when they attempted update it with the new fields.

This issue has been resolved and the duplicated fields are no longer present when the system prompts the administrator to add required fields to the database.

(Added on 4/2/2024)

The Go to the Resource Center and Go to the Compliance Center links provided on the Encompass Home page are now working as expected. Previously, users reported that clicking these links did not open these locations and the users remained on the Encompass Home page.

(Added on 4/2/2024)

The PDF 2.0 file format is now supported by the eFolder. Previously, only the PDF 1.x format was supported. For example, when working with files in the eFolder's File Manager, you can now successfully perform image conversion, merge, split, and export PDF 2.0 files.

Note that merge and export functionality is only supported when working with files that are the same format (i.e., the files being merged or exported must all be PDF 1.x or the files must all be PDF 2.0 format). You cannot successfully merge or export PDF 1.x files and 2.0 files together.

(Added on 4/2/2024)

The Encompass AppLauncher.exe file is the executable file used to launch (i.e., start or open) Encompass on your Windows machine, either by using the Encompass shortcut icon on your desktop or by navigating to the AppLauncher.exe file through File Explorer or the Windows Start menu. Starting in Encompass 24.1.0.2 Server Patch 2, the Windows Security properties for this file have been updated: 

• Access to run the AppLauncher.exe file is now limited to the Authenticated Users group instead of Everybody as used with previous versions of Encompass.

• The Full Control permission for the file has been removed.

These updates ensure that only authenticated users, meaning only users who have logged into the Windows machine using verified user name and password credentials, can launch Encompass. Previously, with Full Control allowed for Everyone, guest user accounts on the Windows machines would have access to launch Encompass via the AppLauncher.exe file.