If you are thinking about buying a home, but you have had credit problems, recent changes in the FHA loan guidelines may solve your problem. FHA loans have been around a long time, but the guidelines have changed so much in the several years that your real estate agent and the home seller you are trying to work with probably won’t recognize the program.
“FHA” stands for Federal Housing Administration. FHA is a division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD. You have probably seen HUD homes for sale in the weekend newspaper. These are homes that were guaranteed by the FHA program but the borrower failed to pay and the home was foreclosed on.
The FHA program was started in 1934 under the National Housing Act with the stated purpose of opening up credit and home ownership opportunities for potential home owner’s who may have had credit problems, have a limited credit history, or lower income than allowed on conventional mortgages
The FHA program accomplishes this goal by providing insurance which will pay off the loan if the borrower defaults. Because of the guarantee of FHA mortgage insurance, the lender can take more risk approving mortgages for borrowers who don’t fit into conventional loan programs.
The FHA mortgage insurance guidelines were set up around the requirements of the first time home buyer, however the program is available to any borrower with no other outstanding FHA loan guarantee. FHA is not available on non-owner occupied investment properties.
Many experienced real estate brokers and home sellers have heard horror stories about FHA’s excessive red tape and are therefore reluctant to recommend that buyers use an FHA loan. At one time, FHA regulations were much restrictive and resulted in higher fees for home sellers. Processing times on FHA loans often delayed the sale of the property while fighting with underwriters over silly bureaucratic issues. However, today these issues are almost completely resolved.
If you have an agent or seller who is reluctant to accept an offer involving FHA financing, here are some of the benefits you can give them:
1. Easy down payment requirements. Typically 3% or less of the property sales price and this can be entirely comprised of gift funds from a family member or an approved not-profit foundation.
2. The seller can pay up to 6% of the total sales price for closing costs and prepaid expenses. This allows a buyer to negotiate an agreement which results in having to bring absolutely no cash to the closing!
3. With an FHA loan, the home buyer is not required to have any financial reserves. Someone with absolutely no money in checking or savings is still eligible for financing.
4. FHA has reformed the appraisal guidelines to get rid of the need for minor repairs that must be completed prior to closing. HUD now allows as-is appraisals. Expensive termite, well and septic inspections are no longer automatically required before closing. Such requirements were the type problems that often delayed closings and angered home sellers in the past.
5. There is no official minimum credit score. HUD provides an automated underwriting system named FHA Total Scorecard. Borrowers approved by this system are not required to write credit explanations, pay off old collections, or remain below an arbitrary debt to income ratio.
6. If the automated underwriting system does not approve your loan, the loan may be underwritten manually and the underwriter is given discretion to use common sense in the decision to approve the loan. The underwriter often does not have this discretion on conventional loans where they are not allowed to override the automated decision.
8. Never any prepayment penalties. Many loans borrowers with credit problems have been getting including significant penalties if the loan is paid off within the first 3-5 years. Such prepayment penalties inhibit refinancing for a lower rate or to lower debt payments. FHA loans have no such prepayment penalties. FHA loans even allow for “streamlined refinancing” As long as a borrower has made mortgage payments on time, there is no requirement to produce all of the qualifying documentation again in order to refinance.
FHA loans provide extensive benefits for both buyers and home sellers. There would be many fewer potential buyers in the market without the program. FHA allows borrowers with past credit difficulties to get the same mortgage rates as perfect credit borrowers with no money out of pocket to buy the home.