FHA

There is a charter school in Houston, Texas that has many hard working teachers trying to keep current on the latest research based best practices for their classroom. To do that, they had to return to college. Many of them obtained a Masters degree in Education, and some teachers are still attending college. I am one of those teachers. I have obtained my MA in Reading so I can provide more research based help to my students who are struggling to learn English, as they have come to this great country from places like India, Asia, Africa, and South America.

For the last 50 years, HUD has been helping many people live the dream. At least that's what they say... I recently decided to buy a home. I found a real nice realtor and applied for an FHA loan. My credit was good, and I wasn’t worried about not qualifying. I took an 8 hour class to learn about the home buying process and then to my surprise, I was told by my lender that my DTI ratio is too high and that I could not get an FHA loan. He stated that a new rule from FHA mandates all student loan debt, regardless of deferral status, teacher loan forgiveness programs, etc., be factored in at 2%. For me, this equates to $2,000 of additional DTI. Sadly, this disqualified me from having a home of my own. I was under the impression that FHA was supposed to help people like me. Isn’t that why it was started in the first place? Firefighters, police officers, and teachers are paid very little and undervalued to begin with, and now we are discriminated against because of student loan debt.

This new rule is discriminatory, and I am looking into available actions that I can take to get this rule/law overturned or changed.

Can anyone explain to me why it is not OK to discriminate against race, sexual orientation, etc., but it is fine to ignore the options that students have for loan repayment from Fed Loan Servicing, another Federal agency, and mandate all student debt be added, regardless of deferral status, teacher loan forgiveness programs, etc., at a 2% rate.

A message I received from the National Association of Realtors:

"Thank you for your message. I would send your note to answers@***.gov and address it to Kathleen Zadareky (Biniam Gebre is no longer there) and your email will be assigned a number and tracked by HUD. In the meantime, we will use your story as an anecdote when NAR advocates for adjustments to student loan debt calculations (which we told FHA we would be watching closely). We have heard that FHA is considering lowering it to be consistent with Fannie and Freddie loans. "

Does anyone know how I can get more students with student loan debt to file a complaint with HUD? Maybe if enough people complain, they will lower this dti rule?

I was told to email answers@***.gov and address it to Kathleen Zadareky.

Today is my birthday, and I am sitting here in tears on a day when I should have been celebrating being 7 days from close on our new house.

Out of the blue yesterday we got word that FM decided to no longer honor FHA loans - even those where the house is finished and close is impending! Meaning we would owe thousands we do not have.

Bottom line, seven days from closing we are going to lose our new (completed) home! It feels so unfair; can they really afford to lose an over 100k loan for greed of 8 or 10k in fees? We are devastated!

I've had a loan with FH for about 5 years. Alway paid on time, never late. Credit good even though my income dried up. I'm a saver.

Finally decided to ask them to remove PMI. Local RE agent came out. Valued the house $100,000 below obvious market value.

I wrote FH and politely asked them to review my case, gave them comps, review my payment history and credit.

They wrote back and removed the PMI. That saves me about $100 a month which I can now apply to paying down the mortgage.

Life's tough out there for everyone, but all mortgage companies aren't evil. They're in business. They have income and expenses. Don't take all this so personally. If you've lost your house, get an apt and a dog or cat, a job if you can, and move forward. Life is short. Be kind to yourself. Times a very tough. It's not just you.

Has anyone tired to just give the house back to the bank. We are upside down and with the penalty fee's we can't sell the house.

We are thinking of just walking away. Has anyone tired to get a lower rate and better terms. Any help or advice would be great. I see that the company we went with is out ,of business.

Morgan Company. Makes me feel really good that when I called a few months back to try and get under the FHA program the house was below the value and they would not help.

Bad.

smhq