WELLS FARGO RELAXES CREDIT SCORE REQUIREMENTS

Wells Fargo announced last week that they will consider issuing mortgage loans to buyers with lower credit scores.

FHA loans are usually requiring a 620 middle score and will lend up to 96.5% (3.5% downpayment) Conventional loans usually require a minimum 10% downpayment. 

As of last week, Wells Fargo was the only lender to have relaxed their requirements to:

Credit scores from 550 (with a 5% downpayment) Credit scores from 500 (with a 10% downpayment)

This will allow some buyers that may have had some problem with their credit but are still "good risk" to borrow money for a home purchase. These loans will be manually underwritten, s...

Why not be foreclosed? Why sell short?

Experienced professionals provide this list of reasons:

Avoid the foreclosure stigma– Homeowners will always have to disclose that they had a foreclosure on any mortgage application and (many job applications) that they submit in the future. This can have an adverse affect on their future mortgage rates. Foreclosure is asked about specifically in credit inquiries. There is no seven-year time limit on this item.  Protect credit score– Credit scores will be lowered by 300-plus points (per loan) by foreclosure. The impact of a short sale—about half that much.  Improve eligibility for a government insured loan– The homeowner will be ineligible for...

SHORT SALE PROGRAM PROPOSED

Yesterday I heard on the radio that the Obama administration is thinking about increasing their support to lenders so that they consider more short sales instead of foreclosures.

However, the program said that what the government has in mind is to provide an "incentive" payment of $1,000 to the primary lienholder, $1,000 to the second lienholder and $1,500 to the homeowner to encourage short sales.

Well, let me tell you: This is NOT going to help much! We are talking about tens (or hundreds) of thousands of shortfall in most cases. In a $300,000 home that was originally sold at $400,000 and financed with an 80/20 mortgage loan combo ("normal" practice to avo...