1. What is MISMO?
2. What is the scope of MISMO?
3. How are MISMO standards developed?
4. Where can I get the specifications?
5. Where can I find the MISMO Implementation Guides?
6. Where can I find a sample MISMO file?
7. How can I become involved in MISMO?
8. How do I become a MISMO subscriber?
9. What benefits do MISMO subscriber companies receive?
10. When do MISMO participants meet?
11. How can I join the Governance Committee?
12. Does MISMO have a list of recommend/referred software?
13. What are the guidelines for using the MISMO logo?
14. Can our company link to the MISMO site?
15. What is MXCompliance?

1. What is MISMO?
Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO), a Delaware non-stock corporation, qualifies for tax exemption under § 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. MISMO was established in 1999 as an independent affiliate of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) to coordinate the development and maintenance of Internet based Extensible Markup Language (XML) real estate finance specifications. MISMO’s mission is to develop, promote and maintain voluntary electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry. MISMO consists of approximately 30 Residential and Commercial workgroups that further the organization’s mission. For a complete list of MISMO’s organization structure, including the workgroups, the leaders and their contact information please go to the Workgoups or Organization Structure page.

2. What is the scope of MISMO?
MISMO utilizes an open and democratic vendor-neutral approach to the development and maintenance of a single real estate finance XML DTD transaction repository. MISMO has published specifications that support mortgage insurance application, mortgage insurance loan boarding, secondary, bulk pricing, real estate services, credit reporting and underwriting process areas. The specifications are freely available for industry implementation via the MISMO website.

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3. How are MISMO standards developed?
Workgroups consisting of volunteer industry practitioners develop each MISMO standard. The most recent version of the MISMO DTD standards is available on the MISMO website. The DTD’s are transaction oriented and support business applications necessary for the loan origination, servicing and secondary marketing. The DTD’s you would need are dictated by your business purpose. MISMO is currently working on Version 3.0, MISMO’s new architectural framework for the Residential standards. More information on Version 3.0 can be found on MISMO's Wiki.

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4. Where can I get the specifications?
Approved versions of the standards can be viewed and downloaded, free of charge, from the MISMO website under the Specifications menu. If you do not see the standard you are looking for, please send an e-mail to info@mismo.org requesting information about the particular standard.

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5. Where can I find the MISMO Implementation Guides?
All the MISMO Implementation guides can be found on the MISMO website under Specifications. Please note, each individual workgroup is responsible for creating the documentation.

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6. Where can I get a sample MISMO file?
Currently MISMO does not publish sample XML data files with our Version 2.x series of standards. However as part of the MXCompliance program (MISMO's XML Compliance service), workgroups are required to provide instance files along with their MXCompliance requirements. Currently, credit reporting, mortgage insurance application, AUS, flood request and response are available. Please find the MXCompliance zip files (which contain the XML instance files) at: http://mxcompliance.mismo.org/documents.aspx. As MISMO works toward the release of our Version 3.0 standards in the near future, workgroups will be supplying additional information in the standards package, including sample XML messages.

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7. How can I become involved in MISMO?
Although MISMO depends upon its subscriber base for income, participation is open to all mortgage industry professionals. The best way to become involved with MISMO and to keep abreast of new technical developments and current initiatives is to join a listserv. The listservs are a free service provided by MISMO and any interested parties may join and participate. MISMO listservs are used to post announcements about conference calls and meetings. Most listservs are very active and also function as a discussion forum for many different issues. You are free to join in the discussion about the development of MISMO standards and implementation guides as you like.

Please determine where your business process area lies and plan to join the corresponding listserv. For further information and to join the listservs, please visit the Listserv Sign Up page.

Each workgroup also holds weekly or monthly conference calls. For a listing of the upcoming calls, please visit MISMO’s SharePoint page and scroll down to Events on the homepage. Please note, SharePoint is a subscriber only benefit, so you will need a username and password to navigate beyond the homepage.

Although you can join the listservs and participate in the conference calls without being a MISMO subscriber, you may want to consider becoming one. For information about the benefits of becoming a MISMO subscriber, please visit the How To Become A Subscriber page.

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8. How Do I Become a MISMO subscriber?
To become a MISMO subscriber, please visit the How To Become A Subscriber . You will then have to enter your username and password. You will then be able to fill out the application and submit online OR print and fax/mail into MISMO. The annual dues for MBA members are $2,250.00 and for non-members are $4,500.00. When filling out the application, please pay particular attention to the category options. If your company does business within both the residential and commercial sides of the industry, please check boxes from each category. If you have any questions when filling out the application form, please contact Carrie Morrison at (202) 557-2797. Please follow the instructions on the form to remit payment.

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9. What benefits do MISMO subscriber companies receive?
MISMO subscriber benefits include access to SharePoint, our online repository. Each workgroup has their own site within SharePoint where meeting minutes, the latest version of the MISMO specifications as well as draft XML standards are posted. Attendance to the MISMO Trimester Meetings, held three times a year in January, May and September, is for free for any participant from a subscriber company. Subscriber companies also have the privilege of voting on key issues. Individuals from subscriber companies may also be nominated to run for a position on the Governance Committee.

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10. When do MISMO participants meet?
MISMO subscribers and participants meet face-to-face in January, May and September in varying locations. Information about these trimester meetings is posted on the MISMO site. Interim workgroup face-to-face meetings are scheduled when necessary. MISMO subscriber companies may attend the meetings for free, however there is a $395 charge for non-subscribers.

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11. How can I join the Governance Committee?
An announcement seeking MISMO Governance Committee candidates is distributed periodically to the MISMO subscribers and participants. Interested parties are asked to contact the Governance Chair or a MISMO representative.

The Governance Committee is responsible for MISMO's management, governance and direction. It consists of 16 MISMO subscriber organizations who serve two-year terms with half of the seats up for election each year. The Governance Committee will be composed as follows:

• Four Lenders/Mortgage Brokers, (two elected each year)
• Two Servicing Technology Companies, (one elected each year)
• Two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE's) , (one elected each year)
• Two Origination Technology Companies , (one elected each year)
• One Mortgage Insurance Company, (elected each odd year)
• One Credit Company, (elected each even year)
• Two Technology Vendors, (one elected each year)
• Two Service Providers, (one elected each year)

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12. Does MISMO have a list of recommend/referred software?
As a standards organization, MISMO is not in a position to recommend propriety software products. However, you may consult the MXCompliance Registry to view those companies and products that have achieved MXCompliance certification.

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13. What are the guidelines for using the MISMO logo?
The MISMO corporate logo is a registered trademark and as such its use is prohibited without specific written permission from MISMO. Current MISMO subscriber companies are entitled to use and display the MISMO subscriber logo in literature, material, displays, web site, etc. The MISMO subscriber logo is available upon request in a variety of formats suitable for print or web site display. To request a MISMO Subscriber logo, please send an email to info@mismo.org.

MISMO's MXCompliance® program was created to establish a common understanding of what it means for a product to comply with a MISMO standard. The Certification Marks are to be used solely on or in relation to applicable Certified Products. When permission for use of a specified MXCompliance trademark is granted, it is only for use of the listed MXCompliance trademark only and does not extend to any other MISMO trademarks.

14. Can our company link to the MISMO site?
MISMO provides links to subscriber companies from our official list of MISMO subscriber companies and to MISMO alliance partners and related organizations in the course of developing standards for the mortgage industry. MISMO does not offer link exchanges to search engines, promotional or advertising sites. However, we cannot prevent your linking to our site and appreciate your interest in the MISMO organization.

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15. What is MXCompliance?
MISMO has developed MXCompliance, the MISMO XML compliance program which allows organizations to test their product/service against MISMO reference standards. If successful, the company is issued a trademark, listed in the MXCompliance registry and granted the right to state that their product is MISMO-compliant.

Each Workgroup must submit sample files along with their compliance schema. You can find the MXCompliance requirement packages at: http://mxcompliance.mismo.org/documents.aspx. Currently, credit reporting, mortgage insurance application, AUS and flood are available. Please find the MXCompliance zip files (which contain the XML instance files) at: http://mxcompliance.mismo.org/documents.aspx.

MXCompliance does not make any warrants regarding interoperability or configuration. However, the MXCompliance certification (and associated trademark) does indicate that a company's software/service is able to produce XML that is inline with the MISMO transaction it was certified against.

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