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NO MINIMUM CREDIT SCORES
Fannie Mae will remove its long-standing 620 minimum credit score requirement starting November 16th. This shift is meant to expand access to borrowers with limited or non-traditional credit histories. Instead of relying on credit scores, lenders will assess overall risk using factors like rent, utility, and phone-payment history through alternatives such as VantageScore. The goal is to qualify strong borrowers who may appear “risky” due to thin credit files.
ALTERNATIVE CREDIT EVALUATION
Without a hard credit score cutoff, lenders will evaluate risk using more granular data. Payment history on rent, utilities, and recurring bills can now support a borrower’s eligibility. This helps long-term responsible payers who’ve never built traditional credit but have demonstrated financial reliability. Lenders emphasize that underwriting standards remain strict. This simply opens the door to borrowers who’ve been overlooked due to limited credit history rather than poor credit behavior.
MORTGAGE PORTABILITY (PORTING)
A newly discussed idea would allow homeowners to transfer their existing mortgage (and interest rate) to a new property. For example, a 3% loan on a current home could be carried over to a more expensive home, with the borrower taking out an additional loan only for the difference. This could unlock frozen inventory by encouraging owners with low fixed rates to move again. Existing homeowners benefit the most, while first-time buyers could see more listings hit the market.
THE PROBLEM FOR LENDERS
Portable mortgages fundamentally break the banking model. Banks and investors assume loans will be paid off roughly every 12–13 years when owners move. That early payoff helps recycle capital and avoid decades of holding low-yield loans. Allowing mortgages to follow borrowers would trap lenders into decades-long low-rate obligations, potentially recreating the same balance-sheet pressure that helped sink Silicon Valley Bank. To compensate, lenders would likely raise rates on new loans or require government subsidies.
THE REAL FIX: MORE HOUSING SUPPLY
All current policy changes, whether expanding loan limits, removing credit score floors, or proposing mortgage portability, attempt to tackle affordability from the demand side. But the core problem remains supply. Without zoning reform and increased building, affordability will continue to worsen. Long term, expanding construction – NOT reshuffling loan structures – is the only durable solution.
Otherwise, I hope you like living with roommates.
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No credit score for cause people dont have a credit card wants to buy a house? What a joke…
Hey a hole, isn’t this a step in the right direction to solving the homelessness problem? All of a sudden buying your first home is a bad thing. Wonder why? Pos!
Social credit score?
Cash is still king
The housing market has undergone significant changes from its original intent. In the past, it primarily focused on owner-occupied homes with a few rentals owned by individual investors. Individual investors would purchase distressed properties, renovate them, and resell them for a profit, while builders constructed entire communities to meet the demand. However, today's housing market is heavily influenced by large corporations such as Zillow, Tricon Residential Inc., Blackstone Inc., Opendoor Technologies Inc., and building-to-rent communities, among others. These organizations make it increasingly difficult for many people to achieve the American dream of owning a home. Even those who have worked hard for many years and paid off their mortgages find it challenging to sell and buy a home that better suits their current needs in this market.
Tackling the ability to borrow money for the purchase of a liability isn't all that helpful. The average age of a home buyer being 40 is more about there being fewer opportunities to save up as fast enough to compete with non-first time home buyers.
I’ll just wait for the crash this will cause to buy hahahahagahaha. Game over man…game over.
We’re witnessing the beginning of the end. 13.5 million jobs have been lost in the last few years and they aren’t coming back
The real problem with housing and housing cost is below. The fix is simple actually.
Push to enact/force all landlords to operate on the same rules as other financial institutions. Rental prices dictate home prices now. Renters paying 60-70% of their income on a roof is the problem. I hate regulation. But I hate predatory practices even more. It’s not rent control. But if a renter doesn’t qualify using the responsible house payment to income ratio already established by the lending industry (28% now up from 25%) it’s a hard NO.
Enact the above with a stroke of a pen. And watch home and rental prices correct virtually overnight. Watch homelessness go away almost completely.
You can’t even lease a scooter without your income to payment being set. Renting is the last haven for predatory practice. And it needs to end. Homes and rental prices will then reflect local incomes. Corporate buyers will run for the hills.
The above is THE answer. And it needs to happen.
This is a recipe for another home lending collapse.