Thursday, August 12, 2010

FHA loans can be seeing mortgage rate increases

Some low income mortgages are guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA doesn’t directly provide no credit loans for homes, but guarantees loans to certain classes of borrowers. To hedge against the possibility of loans going bad, the FHA is legally required to keep 2 percent reserves – however they presently only have about .53 percent. You will find plans in place to really help reduce average payments when Interest rates on FHA loans go up on Sept. 7th.

FHA guarantees poor credit loans

Borrowers that need cash now for a mortgage but don’t have the best credit generally turn to the FHA for help. FHA loan programs reduce how much has to be put down on a loan. About 3.5 percent of the value of the loan needs to be put down with an FHA loan. A bill that would have required a 5 percent down payment perished within the Senate. Currently, about 20 percent of the mortgage loans are originated by the FHA.

Requirements for FHA reserves

Currently, the FHA has money reserves on hand that would be able to cover only .53 percent of the loans they have currently guaranteed. A full 2 percent of the loans should be held in reserve, as outlined by federal law. To close this gap, the FHA has asked for an increase in mortgage rates. Lawmakers approved a rise of 1 percent on the premium for home insurance paid over the life of the loan. This change will take effect on September 7, but the FHA plans on phasing within the changes. Each and every year, this one percentage point increase will create $ 3.6 billion in additional income.

Payments on FHA loans

The change within the cost of an FHA loan could be relatively small. The FHA will be reducing the origination fees paid on these loans to help offset the increase in cost. The loan origination fee will be going down from 2.25 percent of the loan to 1 percent. The effect, in the end, is that FHA loan holders could have to pay $ 40 per month more when they hold their loan .



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