Mortgage Update 10/23/15

Mortgage Update

By Amy Cuculo Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in the headlines plenty this week as the MBA’s 102nd Annual Convention and Expo was underway in San Diego. Timothy Mayopoulos, president and CEO of Fannie and Donald Layton, CEO of Freddie, were vocal about the common mission of both agencies to reduce risk to taxpayers while expanding access to credit. This united front is likely in response to a recent push to release the government-sponsored enterprises from government conservatorship. Layton noted at the conference however that the GSEs are into their eighth year of conservatorship and that any moves by the White House to essentially redo the entire housing finance system as we know it is years away. Instead, the focus was on credit risk transfer. Echoing those comments, Fannie Mae announced on Monday that come mid-2016 it is simplifying the lending process for both lenders and borrowers with a series of updates. One of the biggest changes is that Fannie will require lenders to use trended credit data when underwriting single-family borrowers. Fannie is working with Equifax and TransUnion to provide the data. This means that prospective homebuyers may no longer have to submit pay stubs when they apply for a mortgage. It also means consumers previously shut out of the housing market due to “thin credit” may now be able to get financing. Currently, credit reports only show the outstanding balance and if a borrower has been on time or delinquent on existing credit accounts. With trended credit data however, lenders can access the monthly payment amounts that a consumer has made on these accounts over time. For some consumers who do not have a large amount of available credit, but pay their balances every month, trended data may potentially provide a lender with a more complete picture of their credit behavior over time. #mortgages #interestrates #mcallisterintlgroup Information kindly provided by  Bryant Stuckey - Mortgage Loan Originator https://www.facebook.com/bryantstuckeymortgage