Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Fannie Mae toughens Underwriting Guidelines

Fact: Fannie Mae is the the largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding. Fact: Without Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, mortgage rates would be significantly higher.
Fact: On Monday, Fannie Mae moved to further tighten underwriting guidelines involving income requirements of borrowers to "better assess borrowers' ability to pay".

These changes will now require lenders (Like Efinity Mortgage) to include ALL revolving debts in a borrower's debt-to-income ratio. In times gone by, if there were less than 10 payments remaining on a debt, these items typlically were excluded. What does this mean to you?

The continued shift by Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mac) comes as tighter lending standards have been cited behind a sluggish response by borrowers to record low interest rates. We continue to see many borrowers whom still have mortgage rates ABOVE 5.375!!

Fact: Home loan rates have never been lower.
Fact: Long-term interest rates have never been lower.

With rates as low as they are today, many options exist. Depending on your needs, opportunity exists to either save a lot of money in your monthly payment, over the life of your loan, or both. Many people have recently chosen to refinance into shorter terms – 10, 15, or 20 years – in some cases bringing a large principal reduction payment to closing to get the loan they want.

Whatever your personal situation is, the best thing you can do is to investigate your options. It has been reported that the average rate in effect for all mortgages today exceeds 5.375%. If you or someone you know is currently in this situation, you owe it to yourself to see how you can save today.