Should a lender ask an FHA loan applicant the nature of their disability and how long they expect to be receiving any benefits? Be careful. A Michigan lender had to enter into an agreement with HUD to settle alleged discrimination against an applicant with a disability. Under this agreement the lender, Mortgage One, is required to make a monetary settlement…
Recently, it was reported that many consumers still believe they need at least 20% down to buy a home. Although that may be true, a recent Freddie Mac survey finds that most renters do not have savings for this down payment as their top priority. In fact, it’s not one of their top 3 goals (Renters). The Freddie survey found…
Fannie Mae and Equifax have announced that Fannie will be incorporating credit trending information, provided by Equifax, into Desktop Underwriter. In addition, lenders will be able to verify an applicant’s income and employment through DU using either Equifax’s “The Work Number” product or through a manual verification service offered by Equifax (Verifications). Both Fannie Mae and Equifax tout this as…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is awaiting court approval for a settlement agreement with Sage Bank of Lowell Mass., to the tune of almost $1.2 million. Sweet music to the DOJ. This action was brought about for alleged discrimination in lending to minority home buyers or owners. The alleged discriminatory lending practices were brought to DOJ’s attention under a referral…
With all the talk about programs and efforts to increase homeownership among minorities and low to moderate income households, comes just another example of Congress speaking out of both sides its mouth. Just recently the House overwhelmingly defeated a bill that would have extended a 10 basis point increase of the Fannie/Freddie guaranty fees (g-fees) to be used to fund…
The results are in and the report is that the FHA insurance fund has made a fantastic comeback raising its capital requirement ratio to 2.07%. This is just north of the required reserves of 2%. Hats off to the FHA! Nice work. So, where do we go from here? The recent surge in the reserves was mainly due to two…
