The following must be established for submitting Single Family monthly (periodic) mortgage insurance premium payments via the  U.S. Department of the Treasury's automated collection service.

Set Up a Cash Flow Account

A Title II cash flow account for Single Family Premium Periodic (Monthly) Premiums must be set up for use by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's automated collection service from which funds are withdrawn for monthly (periodic) mortgage insurance premium payments.  This is done through HUD's Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP), which is accessible from the FHA Connection (Lender Functions menu). Please note that this cash flow account setup differs from the one established for the Lender Recertification fees.

For the payment of monthly (periodic) premiums, only ONE cash flow account is set up per lender (i.e., per the 5-digit Institution ID in LEAP). In LEAP, the 10-digit Branch ID for the main office is used for setting up the cash flow account. All branch offices sharing the same 5-digit Institution ID use the cash flow account under the 10-digit Branch ID for the main office.

• The lender's FHA Connection Application Coordinator grants LEAP  Cash Flow Account Setup authorization to an employee with an FHA Connection user ID. This authorization is located in the Authorization for Lender Electronic Assessment Portal Applications section of the FHA Connection ID Administration page used by the Application Coordinator. Note: If an employee does not have an FHA Connection user ID, a registration form is completed to obtain one. Use the Registering a New User link on the FHA Connection's home page.
   
• The employee with Cash Flow Account Setup authorization accesses the LEAP Cash Flow Account Setup and enters the required information.

A prenotification (prenote) test is conducted to verify the validity of the account information provided and the ability to perform an electronic ACH withdrawal from the account. The test uses a zero-dollar amount transaction. The first ACH payment can be made eight calendar days after the automated collection service acknowledges receipt of the prenote transaction, if no errors are reported. The eight-day prenote test period begins the next calendar day after the cash flow account is set up. For example, if a cash flow account is set up on Friday, the eight-day prenote test period begins on Saturday. The lender uses Cash Flow Account Setup in LEAP to determine the status of the prenote test and the date the account becomes active if no errors are reported. If there is an error, Cash Flow Account Setup provides the details. The lender must address any checking account issues with its bank.

See the following FHA Connection Guide modules for further information: FHA Connection Registration Procedures [PDF] and User Administration [PDF].

Prepare to Submit Payments

Monthly premium payments can be submitted online using the FHA Connection or through CPU to CPU batch file transmissions. For lenders with a portfolio of 3,000 cases or less, the FHA Connection provides a list of cases for which payment can be made. Lenders with a portfolio of over 3,000 cases do not get a list of cases for payment on the FHA Connection. Consequently, high volume lenders may choose to use the CPU to CPU batch file transmission method of payment.

The FHA Connection also allows the manual entry of cases for payment and supplies the status of online and batch file payments.

• Submitting monthly premium payments using the FHA Connection: Employees of lenders or service bureaus who are responsible for making payments and/or viewing payment records must have an FHA Connection user ID and be granted the appropriate authorizations by the organization's FHA Connection Application Coordinator. These authorizations are located in the Monthly Premiums section of the FHA Connection ID Administration page used by the Application Coordinator. If a lender uses a service bureau, the service bureau must be established in HUD's system (have a five-digit FHA ID), be selected by the lender, and be granted the appropriate payment authorizations by the lender's FHA Connection Application Coordinator. See the following FHA Connection Guide modules for further information: User Administration [PDF], Monthly Premium Payments [PDF], and Service Bureau Administration [PDF].
   

• Submitting monthly premium payments through batch file transmissions: See Monthly (Periodic) Mortgage Insurance Premium Batch Payment Processing Instructions for CPU to CPU Transmissions. Also, the appropriate FHA Connection authorizations must be granted for employees of lenders or service bureaus responsible for viewing the status of accepted or rejected batch files, tracking the status of a payment, or manually entering cases for payment on the FHA Connection. See the User Administration [PDF] module of the FHA Connection Guide for more information.

Please contact SF Administration (sfadmin@hud.gov) with any questions or comments you may have regarding the FHA Connection.