Credit standards looser on FHA-insured mortgages

IKenneth R. Harney

s it easier today for homebuyers with a high debt ratio and sub-par credit scores to qualify for a mortgage than it has been in years? And if so, what might that mean for firsttime and repeat buyers who are struggling with credit and debt issues but still hope to buy a home?

When the Federal Reserve polled senior bank executives last month on whether they have been loosening credit criteria for homemortgage applicants, most bankers said: “No way, not us.” They’ve kept their rules tight to avoid the problems the lending industry experienced in the housing bust of the last decade.

Studies by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center have estimated that lenders’ historically strict underwriting standards have prevented millions of would-be buyers from becoming homeowners. Researchers said that between 2009 and 2014, 5.2 million mortgages were “missing” — they would have been made if lenders had relaxed their tough postrecession requirements.

But there’s new statistical evidence that, at least in some areas, standards have been easing. A study conducted by credit-score developer FICO and released in August found that credit scores for new mortgages have been dropping.

“As we get further away from the Great Recession,” FICO researchers said, “underwriting criteria seems to have eased, and a broader section of consumers are obtaining mortgages as a result.” The study did not specify which type of loans exhibited the most flexibility.

New loans with FICO scores below 700 — including some in the rock-bottom 400s and 500s — have increased from 21.9 percent of the market in 2009 to 29.7 percent last year, according to FICO researchers. (FICO scores range from 300, indicating severe credit-history problems and a high risk of default, to 850, where the probabilities of missed payments or default are extremely low.)

So where has the easing been occurring?

Conventional mortgageapproval requirements haven’t budged much at the giant investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which were bailed out by the federal government 10 years ago. Although minimum down payments for some borrowers have been reduced in the past two years, and debt-ratio rules have been relaxed a smidgen, there has been virtually no decrease in average credit scores for home-purchase loans, according to monthly data compiled by software company Ellie Mae. Nor have there been statistically noteworthy increases in applicants’ average debt ratios at Fannie and Freddie.

But Federal Housing Administration-insured loans appear to be a strikingly different story. In the first three months of this year, the average credit score for new-home purchase loans was 672, according to FHA data. In the first quarter of 2011, the average was 701.

Refinancings in which borrowers replace their existing FHA loans with new ones carried average FICO scores of 709 in mid-2012; earlier this year, that had plummeted to 661.

There also has been a big increase in FHA loans with a high debt-to-income ratio over the past several years. The debt-to-income ratio is a crucial measure of homebuyers’ ability to repay their loans. The ratio weighs monthly household income against ongoing monthly bills for credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, and other obligations such as child support and alimony, plus mortgage payments. The heavier your monthly debt obligations, the more likely you would become delinquent on your new mortgage.

In the first three months of this year, one in four FHA loans had a debt-to-income ratio of more than 50 percent, according to the latest data available from FHA. As recently as 2013, just 12.7 percent of approved new FHA applications carried such a high debt load.

Also in the first quarter, almost 30 percent of new FHA borrowers had ratios between 43 percent and 50 percent.

What does this mean for buyers who can’t meet the credit score and debt-toincome standards needed for most conventional loans? The good news is that that there might be a path to home ownership at FHA.

But if your household debts are heavy — especially if they exceed 50 percent of your income — get professional financial-counseling advice before signing up for an FHA loan.