Fannie Mae to ban Meridian Capital brokered deals starting in March

UPDATED 4:30 a.m., February 16, 2024: Fannie Mae plans to deny all loans brokered by Meridian Capital Group submitted after March 4, 2024, according to a supplement the government sponsored entity disclosed in the past few days on its website. The move comes three months after Freddie Mac disclosed it would not accept loans brokered by Meridian Capital Group while it was under investigation by Freddie Mac, as The Real Deal first reported.

In that article, a source said Meridian Capital was working with Freddie Mac in its investigation, and had put a broker on leave.

Losing access to Fannie Mae loans would be a blow to Meridian Capital, which has been one of the top mortgage brokerage firms in the New York City area and beyond. Fannie Mae reported it financed $52 billion in multifamily transactions in 2023.

Hiten Samtani, author of the newsletter The Promote, was the first to report on the existence of this memo, in a post on X.

The Fannie Mae supplement was not available online, but a reference title and effective date were disclosed on the Fannie Mae website as Supplement 24-01, however PincusCo obtained a copy of the change, and a portion of it is visible below.

Meridian Capital Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear how long the ban would last and if it was also tied to an investigation, as the Freddie Mac ban is.

Meridian Capital provided the following statement to The Real Deal in November, “Meridian is committed to compliance with industry standards and best practices. We value the long-standing, trusted relationships we have built with our customers, agency lenders and other partners, and continue to work with our clients to meet their real-estate brokerage needs.”

In addition to the supplement noticing the ban, a related supplement noting changes to brokered transactions was added to the site. These also go into effect on March 4.

The supplement say, in part:

Supplement 24-01: Certain Brokered Transactions are Ineligible for Purchase
Effective: 03/04/2024

Summary of Changes

Highlights
Effective as of March 4, 2024, Brokered Transactions sourced using Meridian Capital Group are ineligible for Delivery and purchase.

Primary Change

Until further notice, per the “Agreements with Others” Section of the Multifamily Lender Program Rules, Fannie Mae will not issue a Commitment or accept Delivery of a Brokered Transaction if Meridian Capital Group is the Mortgage Loan Broker or Correspondent.

As for the new regulations related to all brokered transactions, the changes included, “for any Brokered Transactions, requiring direct delivery to you [the lender] of financial statements and schedules, and Property condition information; and your certification that you obtained and reviewed all underwriting information, underwrote the Mortgage Loan, engaged third-party reports/consultants, and entered accurate data.”

Updated with credit to Hiten Samtani’s post on X first reporting news of the existence of the memo.