Better late than never. The VA has issued their guidance for the disclosure of allowable fees to veterans for a VA guaranteed loan. VA Circular 26-16-11 (Exhibit A & Exhibit B) outlines how a lender should be disclosing allowable fees and charges and how a lender and seller credit should be reflected on the new Closing Disclosure to offset an…
Another shocking news headline! A new report by Trulia claims that the long-standing mortgage interest tax deduction available to all homeowners is mostly a benefit to white male homeowners (Inequality). Women and minorities are not getting the same benefit. The report goes on to show how a larger percentage of whites own homes (almost 63%), with the percent of those…
Most companies like to boast that they provide great customer service. I once attended a bank’s 5-year planning meeting where the facilitator asked, “How much do you, or can you, charge for your “great” customer service? Everyone went silent. The reality is that every customer expects to receive good service as part of the product and process. You wouldn’t expect to…
The good news is that FHA has amended their policy, which I outlined in an August 2015 blog post. That post, was about the GSE’s underwriting policy with respect to borrowers with outstanding student loan debt and highlighted the proposed HUD/FHA new policy (upon implementation of Handbook 4000.1). The policy in August required lenders to calculate a monthly payment for…
The USDA recently announced that they will be conducting webinars on both credit underwriting topics, property requirements for anyone interested in learning more about current USDA policies, and upcoming Handbook (HB) changes. In my opinion, this training opportunity is a MUST for all those participating in the USDA loan programs. It is anticipated that rather substantive policy changes will be…
Seems people are always looking for shortcuts. Ways to get where they’re going more quickly or make what they need to do much easier. I’ve found that in all too many instances when looking for, and taking, these shortcuts it leads to more trouble than its worth, and it takes more time and effort to get where you want to…
