Fannie Mae's multifamily program, in which authorized lenders underwrite, close and service apartment loans under Fannie Mae's guide and keep a share of any loss.
DUS stands for Delegated Underwriting and Servicing. Under Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Guide, a lender’s contract with Fannie Mae describes its delegated authority to underwrite and deliver mortgage loans. When a loan meets the guide’s underwriting standards, the lender decides on its own, without sending the file to Fannie Mae first. A loan that falls outside those standards becomes a pre-review loan, and Fannie Mae must sign off before the rate is locked.
Two things follow for a borrower. First, your contact is the DUS lender, not Fannie Mae: the lender quotes, underwrites, closes and then services the loan. Second, the lender has its own money on the line. The guide refers to each lender’s loss sharing obligation, which stays with the lender even if servicing is moved. That is why a DUS lender underwrites carefully although it does not keep the loan.
Ask early whether your deal is fully delegated or needs pre-review. Pre-review adds a second decision maker and time.
How it shows up in the data here
DUS status is not a field here. HMDA does not say which lenders hold a DUS contract or which loans went to Fannie Mae. It does show the multifamily loans each lender made in 2025 and 2024, with count, dollars and median size, and that includes mortgage companies. See the ranking by loans made and multifamily lenders, and check the current DUS lender list with Fannie Mae.
Go further
- Multifamily lenders by loans made: Lenders ranked by number of multifamily loans made, from HMDA.
- Multifamily lenders: Banks, credit unions and other lenders with multifamily loans on the public record.
- DSCR calculator: Cash flow over debt service. Type the cash flow and the loan terms, see the ratio and the cushion before it falls to 1.00x.
- Multifamily loan checklist for 5+ unit properties: A larger apartment loan can go to five kinds of lender. They want much the same package. They differ on recourse, term, prepayment, speed and what they ask of the sponsor.
Related terms
- Agency lender: A lender authorized to make apartment loans that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac then buys or backs, under those companies' rules instead of the lender's own.
- Optigo: Freddie Mac's name for its multifamily loan products and for the network of lenders it buys those apartment loans from.
- Small-balance multifamily: A loan on an apartment building of five or more units that falls under a size cap. Each program sets its own cap, so the phrase has no single legal meaning.
- Multifamily (5+ units): Residential rental property with five or more units. Banks, credit unions and HMDA all draw the line between four units and five.
- Loan servicing: The work of running a loan after it closes: collecting payments, releasing draws, tracking the borrower's reporting and collateral, and handling changes or a default.
- Rate lock: A lender's commitment to hold a quoted interest rate for a set number of days before closing, often backed by a deposit the borrower can lose if the loan does not close.
Sources
Plain definitions for orientation, not legal, tax or credit advice. A lender's own policy decides what it will do.