Agency vs non-agency AUS: agency underwriting vs custom guidelines
The difference between these three is who controls the rules. That decides which loans each one can underwrite and whose vocabulary the finding comes back in.
Three-way comparison
Agency underwriting covers agency-eligible conventional loans. The agencies control the rules. Findings come back as Approve/Eligible or Refer, or as Accept or Caution paired with Eligible or Ineligible. Product scope is the agency box.
Proprietary single-investor: that investor’s shelf. The investor controls the rules. Findings are investor-shaped. Product scope is one seller path.
Configurable non-agency AUS: any program you can write. You control the rules. Findings are your approve, review, or rejected, cited. Product scope is Non-QM, jumbo, business purpose, portfolio, and multi-investor overlays.
Agency underwriting
Agency underwriting covers agency-eligible conventional loans. The agencies control the rules. Findings come back as Approve/Eligible or Refer, or as Accept or Caution paired with Eligible or Ineligible. It is the daily tool for agency files. It will not run your bank-statement overlay.
GUS and FHA TOTAL
GUS is USDA’s own AUS. FHA TOTAL and VA run inside agency underwriting. Same pattern: published rules, not yours.
Proprietary engines vs configurable ones
Some investors encode one credit box and require sellers to hit that engine. Fine if you sell to that investor. Incomplete if you sell to many. A configurable non-agency AUS holds those boxes in one place.
Configurable non-agency AUS
You encode investor guidelines and your own overlays. AUS is this type. The four things agency AUSs structurally cannot do: your overlays, investor-specific Non-QM documentation rules, business-purpose credit boxes, and a findings report in your vocabulary.
Types of automated underwriting systems
How a non-agency AUS works
What is an automated underwriting system
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