According to an article yesterday in Mortgage Professional America... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be increasing their "loan-guarantee fees" again. These "g-fees", which are charged to cover potential losses by Fannie and Freddie will increase an average of 11 basis points.
Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals was quoted: "The problem is that those fees hike the prices of loans - and that expense gets passed on from the wholesaler (bank) to the originator and ultimately to the consumer. It’s all passed on to the consumer, and it’s going to make mortgages more expensive,” Savitt said Tuesday. “That’s the only way to describe it. … Every time they raise the g-fees, in reality it’s a tax on home ownership, which they don’t need to be doing right now.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
On average... 11 bps (basis points) can be looked at similar to "paying points" of about .11% of your loan amount extra. So if you're refinancing or buying a new home and your loan is $200,000... the extra cost to you would be about $220.
The rules in this business have changed exponentially in the last 3-5 yrs. Plan on spending a little longer with the "mortgage guy" you choose to help you on the education phase of the mortgage process and learning about the new rules. Shopping for a mortgage loan ain't like it was since new rule/laws being passed.
Keep a good attitude when you're getting a loan and understand that these fees are "industry wide"... so you can't shop them or demand they get waived.
Keep tuned... more info to come.
