On March 31, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued bulletins updating and clarifying their respective requirements for remote online notarizations as they seek to reduce in-person notarizations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Remote online notarization allows a notary to use electronic tools — typically video conferencing — to notarize documents while the signatory is physically located somewhere else. About half the states authorize the use of remote online notarizations, while several additional states have taken emergency actions to allow them in response to the pandemic.

Fannie and Freddie previously had electronic notarization guidance in their Selling Guide and Seller/Servicer Guide, respectively, that limited the use of RONs, as they are called.[1] The March 31 updates ease those requirements and clarify the conditions under which Fannie and Freddie will accept RONs of loans sold to them. Among other things, the bulletins establish:

• Minimum requirements for authentication of signatories
• Security and document integrity requirements
• Restrictions on the physical location of the notary performing the notarial act
• Requirements to comply with certain aspects of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
• Specific representations and warranties of the lender
• A list of states (below) in which lenders may sell loans to the GSEs with remote online notarization
• Clarification that they will accept remotely notarized documents meeting the new requirements in any state that, subsequent to the publication of the bulletins, adopts a law that permits the use of RONs or accepts out-of-state RONs.