March 29, 2024

Interest Rates Are Low, but Loans Are Harder to Get. Here’s Why.

And that’s with lenders being picky about their customers and particular about their requirements. JPMorgan Chase, for example, will make mortgages to new customers only with credit scores of 700 or more (up from 640) and down payments of 20 percent or higher. USAA has temporarily stopped writing jumbo loans, which are mortgages that are generally too large to be backed by the federal government, among other products. Bank of America said it had also tightened its underwriting, but declined to provide details.

Ms. Smith and her husband, Philip Ellis, had hoped to go through a first-time homebuyer program at Wells Fargo that would require them to put down 3 percent. They even sat through a required educational course. But two weeks before closing on their $205,000 home, their lending officer said they needed to put down 5 percent to keep their rate.

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The Coronavirus Outbreak ›

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated August 3, 2020

  • I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?

    • The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.
  • What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?

  • Should I refinance my mortgage?

    • It could be a good idea, because mortgage rates have never been lower. Refinancing requests have pushed mortgage applications to some of the highest levels since 2008, so be prepared to get in line. But defaults are also up, so if you’re thinking about buying a home, be aware that some lenders have tightened their standards.
  • What is school going to look like in September?

    • It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.
  • Is the coronavirus airborne?

A week later, Ms. Smith said, they learned their loan was for less than what they had been preapproved for — and they needed to come up with an additional $4,000. In the end, their down payment and closing costs exceeded $14,000 — about 45 percent more than they had anticipated.

The couple, who had married in April, used money recovered from their canceled wedding reception. Ms. Smith said they were also lucky to have the support of their families, who fed and sheltered them so they could save every penny. But the stability of their jobs was also most likely a crucial factor.

“I think our ability to secure the loan was due to us both being schoolteachers and having a contract for employment already for the following year,” she said.

Wells Fargo said it hadn’t increased its credit score requirements, but it has raised down-payment minimums on certain loans not backed by the government because it had to suspend most interior appraisals of homes during the pandemic. Even under normal circumstances, there are a variety of situations in which borrowers may be asked to raise their down payment or obtain a better rate by doing so, a company spokesman said.

Some lenders also want to know more about borrowers’ other possible sources of cash.

When Chris Eberle, a technology executive, and his wife were locking in their jumbo mortgage for a new home in Palo Alto, Calif., their lender, a California mortgage bank, wanted to know not only how much they had in their retirement accounts but how easy it was to get at that money.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/your-money/mortgage-loans-credit-cards-coronavirus.html

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