It's not what home buyers, sellers and refinancers want to hear, but what they need to know. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ratcheting up their mandatory fees and toughening credit-score and down-payment rules as of April 1.?? Most major lenders already are tacking on the higher fees, effectively raising costs to consumers immediately and reducing the impact of housing stimulus efforts from Congress and the Obama administration.
Under Fannie's and Freddie's new guidelines, even applicants who assumed their FICO scores would get them favorable rates will be charged more unless they can come up with down payments of 30 percent or higher. For example, a buyer with a 699 FICO score who can make a down payment of 25 percent will now get hit with a 1.5 percent "delivery" fee at closing under the new guidelines.
A buyer with a Fair Isaac Corp. FICO score between 700 and 720 will pay an extra three-quarters of a point. Even someone with a 739 FICO will get dinged with a quarter-point add-on.
Applicants who seek to buy a condominium and cannot come up with a 25 percent down payment will be hit with a three-quarter point add-on penalty, no matter how high their credit score - simply because they are not purchasing a traditional detached, stand-alone home.
Buyers of duplexes, where one unit is owner-occupied and the other is rented, will be charged a flat 1 percent add-on from Fannie, even if they've got FICOs above 800 and make 50 percent down payments. Refinancers who take cash out at settlement also will be forced to pay extra - as much as three points if they've got low credit scores and modest equity stakes.
Fannie and Freddie say they are adding the fees to counter higher risks and losses associated with certain loan products, buyer equity stakes and credit scores. Declining home values in many parts of the country are intensifying losses for both companies when loans go to foreclosure.
However, realty agents, mortgage bankers and brokers are incensed at the fee increases, calling them counterproductive in an environment where housing needs help, not impediments. They have begun lobbying Congress and the two companies' federal overseers to scrap the add-ons.
As recently as two years ago, FICO scores in the upper 600s were enough to qualify any applicant for prime financing. Now scores of 720 to 740 are the bare minimum if you're going to escape add-on fees - and still not good enough if you choose to buy a condo or a duplex.
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