1. The borrower must have made a minimum of 3 months of scheduled payments and documentation of the payments is required.
2. The payment must be included in the DTI / Debt to income calculation.
3. The borrower cannot prepay the payments to meet the 3-month payment requirement NOTE: Borrowers with delinquent taxes may or may not have a tax lien. Borrowers currently in a repayment plan, and the IRS has not filed a tax lien, are not required to meet the minimum 3-month payment requirement. The payment to the IRS will be included in the DTI calculation.

What are the FHA loan guidelines for borrower with previous foreclosure and deed-in-lieu?

Foreclosure waiting period is measured from the date of title transfer. Three (3) years must have elapsed from the time title transferred. If the foreclosed loan was an FHA loan, the 3-year waiting period is based on the date the FHA claim was paid (e.g. foreclosure 11/12/14, FHA claim dates was 7/12/15, the 3-year waiting period ends 7/13/18).

Borrowers with foreclosure/Deed in Lieu within 3 years of case number assignment that was due to documented extenuating circumstances may be eligible if the borrower has re-established good credit since the foreclosure. A downgrade to manual underwriting is required. If the foreclosure was included in the bankruptcy, the foreclosure waiting period still applies. HUD treats the foreclosure and Bankruptcy  independently, not as a single event.

What are the FHA guidelines for borrowers with previous short sale and/or pre-foreclosure?

The three-year waiting period from date of title transfer still applies unless they were current at the time on short sale. Speak to your loan officer for specifics.

What are the FHA guidelines for DTI or Debt-to-Income ratio?

The Maximum debt-to-income (DTI) ratio varies based on overall credit history and assets.  Typically, the DTI cannot exceed 45% of the borrower’s gross income.  However, in some cases borrowers with as high as 54.9% DTI may be eligible and in other cases borrowers may be capped at 43% DTI. Due to our volume size we can allow for higher DTI which enables you to receive a higher loan amount even if you have significant debt.

How does FHA treat deferred student loans?

Borrowers with student loans that are in deferment or not fully amortized will be required to calculate 1% of the outstanding balance as minimum monthly payment that will be added in their debt-to-income ratio (DTI) calculation.