Tag: Mortgage Lending

Overdue Medical Bills? Upcoming Changes Will Improve Your Credit Score  

Your credit scores affect nearly every facet of your financial life. And it’s no secret that life is better with a good credit score. Good credit makes it easier to buy a car, rent an apartment or get a home loan. 

Jaxzann Riggs, owner of The Mortgage Network, shared with me some important changes that will likely improve many consumers’ credit scores.

While many potential homeowners do their homework and check their credit scores prior to applying for a loan, they are often surprised when they sit down with a mortgage broker, who informs them that the credit scores appearing on their “tri-merged, residential credit report” are significantly lower than those obtained thru consumer online sites. For some, this could mean that their house hunting is going to have to wait. 

Bank sites and Credit Karma may give you a good picture of your “consumer” credit score, but when mortgage lenders review your credit history, they use a credit score formula tailored to determine what kind of risk you’ll be for a mortgage loan. The formula weighs pieces of your credit history differently to test for such risk factors as debt collections that have been paid off. The score is tailored to mortgage lenders because it’s specifically focused on your ability to repay a home loan, versus an auto loan or credit card. With credit scores, the higher the score, the lower the mortgage interest rate. For borrowers with a credit score under 740, lenders factor the additional risk into your interest rate.

What impacts different scores? Mortgage lenders typically use a FICO score (by Fair Isaac Corporation) to determine your loan options. Your FICO score is based on many things such as your amounts owed, length of credit history, and your payment history. Payment history alone accounts for 35% of your FICO score, which looks at late payments, unpaid balances, or accounts that have gone into collections. While you may have paid off the collection shortly after a notice, unfortunately, those negative records can stay on your FICO report for a long time!

A collection account, no matter what it is owed for and no matter what the amount, can easily drop a credit score 100 points or more, depending on what the rest of the credit report looks like. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s research, 58% of collections on a consumer’s reports are medical. And as of June 2021, the amount of medical debt on consumer credit reports was $88 billion dollars

Good News Has Arrived

Starting July 1st, the three large credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — will stop including medical debt that went to collections on credit reports after it’s paid off. Under current practice, it can remain on your record for seven years.

Additionally, consumers will get a year, up from six months, before unpaid medical debt appears on credit reports once it goes to a collection agency. And in the first half of 2023, the credit bureaus will stop including anything that has a balance less than $500.

What does that mean for your FICO score? Well, that is a good question! While we know that the changes will positively affect many people, we don’t know the extent to which it will change the mortgage FICO scores until the changes go into effect.

If you have questions about your credit scores or report, get in touch with Jaxzann at 303-990-2992. She will also answer any other mortgage loan questions that you may have. 

Higher Loan Limits and Lower Rates Improve Affordability for Homebuyers

By JIM SMITH, Realtor

Both the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been in the headlines in the past couple weeks with their respective announcements that they will be raising mortgage loan limits for 2021. I exchanged emails with Jaxzann Riggs, owner of The Mortgage Network in Denver, to learn more about loan limits and what their implications are for potential purchasers. Here’s what I learned from her.

Jaxzann Riggs

Although loan limits have been around for many years for both conventional loans (loans that conform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s loan standards) and FHA loans, (loans insured against default by the Federal government) the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 has largely shaped how we know them today. The 2008 act established a base loan limit of $417,000 for conventional loans and, due to the declining price trend in the real estate market at the time, also included a mandate that this baseline limit would not increase until prices rose to previous levels. In 2016, FHFA increased loan limits for the first time in ten years, and they have increased every year since. HERA also mandated that FHA set loan limits at 115% of area median house prices, with a floor and ceiling on both limits.

2021 will see conventional loan limits for single-unit properties increase from $510,400 to $548,250 as a baseline. High-cost areas (which always included places like Aspen and Boulder, but now also includes the metro area) have a maximum loan limit that is a multiple of the area’s median home value, up to 150% of the baseline. Denver, Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, and Douglas counties will all be seeing an increase from $575,000 to $596,850. Boulder county increases to $654,350. The increase in these limits means that more borrowers will be able to qualify for a conventional loan versus having to obtain a high-balance or jumbo loan, which typically come with higher interest rates.

It’s important to remember that purchase price does not necessarily correlate with loan limits. If a borrower plans, for example, to purchase a $750,000 property but puts a significant amount of money down, thus bringing their loan amount under the conforming limit, they can still qualify for a conventional loan.

The FHA has also increased loan limits for 2021, with a national conforming limit of $548,250. In the majority of the Denver metro area the loan limit has increased to $596,850, up from $575,000 in 2020. The FHA’s loan limit increases are tied closely to the FHFA’s conventional loan limit increases.

Although loan limits are most frequently mentioned in terms of single-family homes or one-unit properties, both conventional and FHA loans also impose limits on duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. These increase at the same time and at the same frequency as single-unit loan limits. In the case of the FHA, which also insures Home Equity Conversion Mortgages —  also known as HECMs or Reverse mortgages — there will be a 2021 limit increase to $822,375. Unlike traditional loan limits, this increase applies across the board, regardless of what market the home is located in.

2021 is sure to be a year of changes, and mortgage loan limits are no exception. The increase in limits for both FHA and conventional loans matched with historically low rates and 3-3.5% down payment options just might be the ticket to purchasing your dream home.

Regardless of what loan type you are seeking, I recommend giving Jaxzann Riggs with The Mortgage Network a call today at (303) 990-2992.

Do You Think a Big Down Payment Is Needed to Buy a Home? Think CHFA.

One of the most enduring misconceptions among home buyers is that a large down payment — typically 20% — is required in order to buy a home.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

FHA loans only require a 3.5% down payment, although they come with a mortgage insurance requirement which lasts for the life of the loan. Because of that, you’ll need to refinance with a conventional loan once you exceed 20% equity in your new home.

Conventional (non-FHA) loans don’t necessarily require a 20% down payment either. To compete with FHA loans, there are lenders who require as little as 3% down payment, often without mortgage insurance. If they do require mortgage insurance, it can be eliminated once your equity rises to 22%, although that requires a new appraisal, which can cost $400 or more.

Best of all, however, the Colorado Housing & Finance Authority (CHFA, pronounced “Chaffa) can get you into a home with as little as $1,000 out of pocket cost. CHFA loans have income limits, but they are reasonable, up to $120,100 in the metro area. Their website is super helpful and easy to navigate at www.chfainfo.com.

At that website you’ll learn the complete process involved in getting approved for a CHFA loan. One of the first steps is to take a free buyer education class that covers every aspect of the home buying process as well as ownership responsibilities after closing.

CHFA loans are only obtained through mortgage lenders, not from CHFA directly, and Golden Real Estate can connect you with a CHFA-approved lender. 

If you’re a veteran with an honorable discharge, you are eligible for 100% financing, but there’s a funding fee.  That fee, however, is waived if you have a service related disability. Even if it isn’t waived, the fee can be included in the mortgage so that you can literally close on a VA loan with zero money out of pocket. Earnest money submitted is refunded to you at closing! We can also connect you with a VA-approved lender.