The new FHA risk based mortgage insurance guidelines are set to take effect on July 14, 2008. They were originally set to take effect on January 1, but FHA held off due to public comments. The new guidelines appear to answer most of the concerns that I had about the original proposal.
The most notable part of this policy is that, although there is still substantial leniency, this is the first official adoption of minimum credit scores for the FHA program.
This may sound harsh, but divorce is not a good excuse for bad credit.
Considering the number of credit explanation letters I see in FHA loan submissions which prominently promote divorce as the explanation for borrowers’ credit foul-ups, it appears clear to me that many loan officers are not aware of this fact. As a result, many loan submission files end up unnecessarily in the turn-down stack.
For ages, your borrower’s nontraditional credit has been acceptable to use to qualify for FHA loans. In the past, though, HUD wasn’t very specific on exactly what they expected to see when alternative credit was used. Were letters from creditors acceptable proof or did it need to be added to a nontraditional credit report? What types of accounts are acceptable?
