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The HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application is used to apply as a counselor for HUD's Housing Counseling Program as either of the following counselor types:
A separate application is processed for each of the counselor types. For placement on the HECM Counselor Roster, the counselor must first be a certified counselor.
In order to become a HUD-certified counselor, the counselor must be competent in the areas set forth in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and pass the HUD Housing Counselor Certification Examination. The examination does not have to be retaken every few years in order to retain an Active status as a certified counselor.
In order to qualify for placement on HUD's HECM Counselor Roster, the counselor must be trained, tested, and pass background checks.
Before applying for placement on the FHA HECM Counselor Roster, the counselor must meet the following prerequisites:
| • | HUD's Credit Alert Verification Reporting System (CAIVRS): CAIVRS is a federal interagency database that contains the following: (a) delinquent debt information from the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Education, and Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration and (b) lien judgment information from the Department of Justice. |
| • | HUD's Limited Denial of Participation (LDP) List: An LDP is an action taken by a HUD Field Office or the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family or Multifamily Housing which excludes a party from further participation in a HUD program area. Check the Limited Denial of Participation List at: https://www5.hud.gov/ecpcis/main/ECPCIS_List.jsp. |
| • | Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) via System for Award Management (SAM) of the General Services Administration (GSA): Identifies those parties excluded from receiving federal contracts, certain subcontracts, and certain types of federal financial and non-financial assistance and benefits. Check SAM at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. |
The HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application must be completed online, printed, and scanned into Portable Document File (PDF) format. Each HECM training certificate must also be scanned into an acceptable file format. Then, the files (application and training certificate(s)) are uploaded to HUD's server. Online instructions are available. The information is encrypted and processed on a secure HUD server.
If you just took the HECM Counselor Exam and received a qualifying score, wait approximately a week or more before applying for placement on the HECM Counselor Roster. HUD receives exam information periodically and may not yet have the exam information at the time you apply.
HUD reviews the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application for HECM counseling and approves or denies the application. An e-mail notification with the results of HUD's decision is sent to the counselor using the e-mail address entered on the application. If the application is denied, the reason for the denial is included. If the application is accepted, the counselor is officially placed on the HECM Counselor Roster after the validation of employment is entered by the FHA Connection Application Coordinator for the housing counseling agency that employs the counselor.
In order to retain an active status on the HUD HECM Counselor Roster, the counselor must:
A counselor can also be removed from the HECM Counselor Roster for various other reasons, including noncompliance with HUD requirements and standards.
Certified and HECM counselors must maintain their own information through the FHA Connection,
a secure HUD website. An FHA Connection user ID and password are required to access
records. To obtain an FHA Connection user ID, the Housing Counselor Registration form must be completed and submitted to
HUD. The Housing Counselor Registration form is available from a link on the Registering
to Use the FHA Connection page at: https://entp.hud.gov/clas/reginfo.cfm.
Counselors can maintain their own information through the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Database option on the FHA Connection's Counseling Functions menu. This option displays the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Update/Renewal form with the information HUD has on record
for the counselor. The information on this form can be updated by the counselor.
A counselor's employment with a HUD-approved housing counseling agency must be validated by the FHA Connection Application Coordinator of the agency.
For a certified counselor, a request for employment validation by the housing counseling agency entered on the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application is automatically triggered when the application is successfully submitted. If the certified counselor is employed by more than one agency, or changed employers since the application was submitted, certified counselors can use Certified Counselor Employment Request on the FHA Connection's Counseling Functions menu to request validation of employment by another agency.
Once employment is validated, the counselor can conduct counseling for the agency and produce counseling certificates for HUD programs through the Counseling Certificate option on the FHA Connection's Counseling Functions menu.
HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application - Processing
HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application Page - Field Descriptions
HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application - Upload Files Page - Field Descriptions
HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application Results Page - Field Descriptions