Just read that beginning April 1, 2009 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be raising the fees and tightening rules for credit scores and down payments.
What does this mean? Higher closing costs or interest rates for the consumer, in short.
Whenever I have someone putting down 25% on a house, that’s kind of “out of the norm”. It seems most folks put down less. (Whether it’s good or bad, I leave for you to decide. It’s just a fact I’m stating).
If you were buying a $200,000 house and putting down $50,000 (25%), wouldn’t you feel that is pretty good hefty down payment? Hey! At least you’d have some equity in the home! Under the new rules that are slated to go into effect on April 1st (as far as I know, it’s not an April Fool’s joke), the buyer of that house would be hit with a 1.5% “delivery fee” at closing.
I’m guessing that this 1.5% “delivery fee” will based on the loan amount and not the sales price. So, basically these 1.5% “delivery fee” would add an extra $2,250 in closing costs to that home buyer!
But wait that’s not all!
This applies to those with what has been historically considered good to great credit scores too! Although, the higher the FICO score the less you’ll pay of the “delivery fee”.
For example, if you have a credit score of 699, you’d pay 1.5% additional in fees. If your credit score is 700-720, you’d pay .75% additional in fees. If your credit score is 739, you’d pay .25% in additional fees! Kind of sounds like a tax doesn’t it?
Here’s a link to a story about it: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Fees
