The News Tribune (Lite) - Fed’s new mortgage rules set income, payment requirements

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Section: Business

Fed’s new mortgage rules set income, payment requirements

THE NEWS TRIBUNE

The Federal Reserve on Monday issued new rules intended to rein in shady mortgage lending practices.

Among the rules, according to The Associated Press:

• Bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower’s income.

• Require lenders to make sure risky borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.

• Restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early. Such “prepayment” penalties are banned if the payment can change during the initial four years of the mortgage. In other cases, a penalty can’t be imposed in the first two years of the mortgage.

• Prohibit lenders from making a loan without considering a borrower’s ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home’s value. The borrower need not have to prove that the lender engaged in a “pattern or practice” for this to be deemed a violation. That marks a change from the Fed’s initial proposal and should make it easier for borrowers to lodge a complaint.

The new rules apply only to new loans.

I talked Monday morning with Chris Dunayski, president of Highpoint Mortgage in Puyallup, who said, “It’s interesting because a lot of what was released today sounds great, but a lot of this has already been done by banks themselves.”

Months ago, he said, banks began requiring many borrowers (and providing incentive for others) to include tax and insurance payments in the monthly mortgage payment. Qualifying borrowers based on the higher, adjusted rate they’ll pay down the road is new but not so useful in the near term, as 30-year fixed mortgage rates are now as good or better than adjustable-rate mortgages, he said.