Category: Interest Rates (Page 25 of 30)

Cash Out Refinances for Student Loans

July 31, 2017 / Tom Bonetto

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has once again re-tooled some of their guidelines. This time it is regarding student loans and how they are treated in debt-to-income ratios for qualifying for a mortgage. This really is fantastic news.

It gets even better for homeowners who have student loans, as Fannie Mae is offering improved pricing on cash out refinances for paying off student loans.

The Big News

Effective immediately, Fannie Mae will waive the “loan level price adjustments” (LLPA), or rate increase adjustment, on cash-out refinances when student loan are being paid off. LLPA’s are intended to adjust for the “risk based” pricing and they directly impact mortgage rates.

Here’s a practical example: a cash out refinance with a loan to value of 80% and credit scores of 740 or higher, has a price adjustment of 0.875 points! This is typically factored into the cost of the rate. (you can click here for Fannie Mae’s LLPA matrix).

The lower your credit score, the higher the adjustment is because of the anticipated higher risk for the loan. Get this….if student loans are being paid off, the extra cost of the LLPA is waived!

The Specifics

In order to qualify for the new special student loan cash-out refinance, the following must take place:

at least one student loan must be paid off;
loan proceeds must be paid directly to the student loan servicers at closing;
only student loans that the borrower (home owner) is personally obligated are eligible;
student loan must be paid off in full with the proceeds from the refi. No partial payments are allowed;
property may not be listed for sale at the time of the transaction.

Homes in the California and Arizona area have appreciated at a solid rate over the last few years. Now may be a great opportunity to eliminate student loan debts…especially with the preferred lower mortgage rate! Please do contact me for more regarding this program.

Improve Your FICO Score by 100 Points Quickly

July 18, 2017 / Tom Bonetto

How To Increase Your Credit Score Fast

You can raise your FICO and reduce what you pay for a mortgage, automobiles, and credit cards. And it’s not that hard to do.

Gina Pogol at The Mortgage Reports has put together a step-by-step guide to get your credit score up and start paying less for everything you finance. Below is a sampling from her article that you might find very useful….

How Much Can You Save?

Per Pogol and MyFICO.com, improving your score by 100 points can save you thousands per year – although that’s not enough to make you rich overnight, it certainly is enough to improve your life.

The average home purchase mortgage, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), was $324,844 in May 2017.

MyFICO says that you’d pay 5.15 percent with a 620 credit score, and 3.78 percent with a 720 credit score.

The difference in payment for an average loan amount and a 30-year fixed mortgage is $264 a month. And that’s really just the start.

The First Step – Assessment

Your first task, when raising your FICO, is to see what you’re up against.

You can get a copy of your credit report from all three major bureaus for free at the government’s site, annualcreditreport.com. Pay the small charge to obtain your FICO scores as well.

Your “representative” score is the middle score of the three. So if your scores are 598, 602 and 623, your representative score is 602. Note that there are many variations on the FICO score, and not every lender uses the same one.

What’s The Reason For Your Low Scores?

Your plan of action depends on the reasons for your low FICO score.

If the cause is inaccurate information, you can clean up your report yourself by contacting all three credit bureaus, Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax, and the company reporting inaccurately, providing proof that you paid on time.

This can take weeks to fix. If you have a mortgage in process, your lender can bring in a rapid re-scoring company to expedite the process at a reasonable cost.

There is no guarantee that correcting information will raise your score by any specific amount.

Know The Codes

If your report is accurate, your scores have “reason codes” you can use to determine the biggest factors bringing your score down. The most common, according to Equifax, include:

Serious delinquency.
Public record or collection filed.
Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown.
Level of delinquency on accounts is too high.
Amount owed on accounts is too high.
Ratio of balances to credit limits on revolving accounts is too high.
Length of time accounts have been established is too short.
Too many accounts with balances.

Note that the most often-used word in those codes is “delinquency.” If your credit history looks like a rap sheet, littered with late payments, charge-offs and judgments, you’ll need to put some time between your mistakes and your next loan application.

You might even want to reach out to an expert for credit repair.

You won’t be able to start the process until you bring your accounts current. However, your creditors may be able to help you out.

Make Sure You Pay On Time

Next, get a system to ensure on-time payment. It takes about six months of on-time repayment to make a meaningful difference in your credit score, so start as soon as possible.

Set your accounts up on autopay from a checking account. Choose a payment date that follow your paydays and make sure money is there to cover your debts.

If you can’t afford your payments, enlist the help of a non-profit credit counseling service. They can possibly lower your monthly payments, bring accounts current, get penalties waived and help you toward debt-free status.

This may be called a debt-management plan, or DMP. A DMP is not a debt settlement plan, which you should probably avoid.

Some experts recommend that you consider bankruptcy if a DMP won’t pay off your unsecured debts within five years.

High Balances on Existing Debt

The other main category of reason codes concerns the amount of debt you’re carrying. FICO looks at the amount of credit you have with the amount used (utilization ratio), the balances and number of accounts with balances.

Credit bureaus look for spending patterns that are unsustainable. For instance, if every month you spend more than you earn, your payments increase each month, leaving even less disposable income.

Eventually, you have no more available credit and you can’t make your payments.

Fortunately, fixing this changes your score almost immediately. If you have savings to pay off your accounts, consider using it. It’s a safe bet that the interest you’re getting is a lot less than what your creditors are charging.

If you don’t have savings to cover this, you may be able to improve your score by paying off your credit card balances with a personal loan or home equity loan. Lowering your revolving (credit card) account balances drops the utilization ratio.

Don’t do this unless you are 100 percent confident that you will not use your credit cards until the new loan is repaid.

If you have more questions regarding your FICO score and getting into a home loan, please contact me, as it would be my privilege to help!

Fannie Mae Eases Qualification Requirements

June 12, 2017 / Tom Bonetto

The country’s largest source of mortgage money, Fannie Mae, soon plans to ease its debt-to-income (DTI) requirements, opening the door to home-purchase mortgages for large numbers of new buyers.

This move by the mortgage giant will dramatically increase the number of people who will now be able to qualify for a home loan.

Per The Washington Post, “Studies by the Federal Reserve and FICO, the credit scoring company, have documented that high DTIs doom more mortgage applications — and are viewed more critically by lenders — than any other factor.”

Using data over the last 15 years, Fannie Mae’s researchers analyzed borrowers with DTIs in the 45 percent to 50 percent range and found that a significant number of them actually have good credit and are not prone to default.

Simple Definition : Debt-To-Income (DTI)

Debt-to-Income (DTI) is a lending term which describes a person’s monthly debt load as compared to their monthly gross income.

Mortgage lenders use debt-to-Income to determine whether a mortgage applicant can maintain payments a given property.

DTI is used for all purchase mortgages and for most refinance transactions.

It can be used to answer the question “How Much Home Can I Afford?”

Debt-to-Income does not indicate the willingness of a person to make their monthly mortgage payment. It only measures a mortgage payment’s economic burden on a household.

Most mortgage guidelines enforce a maximum debt-to-Income limit – and Fannie Mae has essentially “upped” that ratio to help more borrowers qualify!

Housing Ratio or “Front-End Ratio”

Lenders add up your anticipated monthly mortgage payment plus other monthly costs of homeownership. These other costs of homeownership could include homeowner association (HOA) fees, property taxes, mortgage insurance, and homeowner’s insurance.

Normally, some of these expenses are included in your monthly mortgage payment. To calculate your housing ratio or front-end ratio, your lender will divide your anticipated mortgage payment and homeownership expenses by the amount of gross monthly income.

Total Debt Ratio or “Back-End Ratio”

In addition to calculating your housing ratio, lenders will also analyze your total debt ratio. At this time your other installment and revolving debts will be analyzed and added together. Installment and revolving debts will appear on your credit report.

These payments are expenses like minimum monthly credit card payments, student loan payments, alimony, child support, car payments, etc.

Your monthly installment and revolving debts are then added in addition to your estimated monthly mortgage payment and housing expenses and divide that number by your monthly gross income.

Because of these changes by Fannie Mae, many individuals that did not qualify for a home loan might now be eligible under these new regulations.

Please contact me to find out more!

New Fannie Program to Solve Student Loan Debt Qualification Issues

May 29, 2017 / Tom Bonetto

A truly groundbreaking mortgage solution is now being offered by Fannie Mae, as the country’s biggest mortgage agency is making getting approved for a mortgage much, much easier.

Fannie Mae announced three new features that will help those burdened with student loans to qualify to buy a house, or pay off their student loans via a refinance.

“We understand the significant role that a monthly student loan payment plays in a potential home buyer’s consideration to take on a mortgage, and we want to be a part of the solution,” said Jonathan Lawless, Vice President of Customer Solutions, Fannie Mae.

The new program is called Student Loan Solutions, and represents a huge shift by Fannie Mae.

Source: The Mortgage Reports and Tim Lucas

Change #1: Student Loan Payment Calculation

Fannie Mae has changed how lenders calculate student loan payments.

Lenders may use the student loan payment as it appears on the credit report for qualification. Period. That may seem like common sense, but it’s not how things have been done in the past.

Change #2: Student Debt Paid By Others

Just because a payment shows up on a mortgage applicant’s credit report does not mean he or she pays it.

Often, that obligation is taken care of by a parent or another party.

In these cases, Fannie Mae is disregarding the payment altogether. That applies not only to student loans, but payments for all debts.

Change #3: The New Student Loan Cash-Out Program: Pay Off Education Loans With A Refi

Perhaps the biggest shift of all is Fannie Mae’s rework of cash-out rules regarding student loans.

Typically, cash-out refinances come with higher rates. They are considered higher risk by lenders and Fannie Mae.

So, according to Fannie Mae’s loan level price adjustment matrix, a lender must charge an extra 1%-2% of the loan amount in fees or more, just because the loan is deemed “cash-out”.

Now, Fannie Mae does not consider the loan a cash-out transaction if loan proceeds completely pay off at least one student loan.

This loan classification has never been seen before — a kind of hybrid between no-cash-out and cash-out financing. Fannie Mae simply calls it the Student Loan Cash-Out Refinance.

Please do reach out to me to discuss these significant changes to see how I might be able to help you either purchase or refinance!

How Credit Scores Impact Loan Interest

May 8, 2017 / Tom Bonetto

It seems like those with good credit catch all the breaks when it comes to getting lines of credit. It’s easier for them to qualify, and they get lower interest rates.

Well, there’s a pretty good reason for it.

A person that has good credit has a low statistical probability of defaulting on a loan. Therefore, they are given a lower interest rate. A person with a lower credit score has a much higher probability of defaulting, therefore they are charged a much higher interest rate to cover the losses incurred by lenders by those who do default.

It’s all about mitigating risk.

One of my favorite finance bloggers, Cleverdude, has a great piece with specific examples of credit scores and interest rates that shows how much you can really save by working on that credit score.

Find out more here….

He concludes that “people with good credit also have an easier time keeping and improving their credit because they get lower interest rates, which lowers their monthly payments. This makes loans easier to pay back, and keeps more money in their pockets.”

Wise words from the Cleverdude, indeed.