Millions of families who have been invisible to the mortgage industry will gain access to the generational wealth-building opportunity of homeownership.
NCRC Statement On FHFA Credit Score Model Changes Read More »
Your credit reports and scores play an important role in your future financial opportunities. You can use these steps to manage and protect your credit during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
Protecting your credit during the coronavirus pandemic Read More »
Washington, DC — John Taylor, President & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, released this statement today about the Republican proposal to raise the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) minimum loan down payment to five percent. The proposal will be discussed at a House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing today. NCRC opposes an increase in the
NCRC Opposes Increase to FHA Down-payment Read More »
Files 22 Complaints With HUD Over Lenders’ Unfair & Discriminatory Policies
WASHINGTON, DC — The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) today called on federal agencies and banking regulators to investigate the nation’s largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approved lenders for possible violations of federal housing rules by refusing to offer loans to qualified Americans to the FHA policy of a minimum credit score of 580 and above with a 3.5% downpayment.
A recent NCRC investigation found that the majority of top FHA lenders failed to offer applications for federal-guaranteed loans to potentially qualified borrowers with credit scores below 620 or 640, even though FHA guarantees loans with credit scores to 580. These lenders have policies that establish “credit overlays” above the FHA policy, with minimum credit score requirements as high as 640. One-third of all Americans have credit scores under 620.
“Critical to our nation’s economic progress is the ability of homeowners to get quality refinancing, and for homebuyers to reclaim vacant houses by accessing quality mortgage credit, ” said John Taylor, president & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
“The decision by some banks to not follow the FHA’s policy is cutting qualified borrowers off from accessing credit, and in doing so, causing harm to their ability to prosper, build wealth and for our economy to grow. And this decision is arbitrary, because the loans are 100% guaranteed, whether the borrower’s credit score is 580 or 780. That means the loans with lower credit scores don’t pose additional risk to the company, so there’s no legitimate business defense for this across-the-board practice. A lender is only at risk if they fraudulently or improperly originated the loan, against FHA’s underwriting criteria. As is the case across the secondary market, in that situation, the lender can be forced to buy back the bad loan,” said Taylor.
NCRC Calls For Federal Investigation Into Lenders’ Read More »
An investigation by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) discovered that a majority of the top 50 FHA lenders have instituted policies that limit access to credit to working families in low- and moderate-income communities, and in communities of color, the very same communities that have been most harmed by the greed and malfeasance of
NCRC Files “Landmark” Fair Housing Complaints Read More »
Enacted by Congress in 1975, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requires banks, savings and loan associations and other financial institutions to publicly report detailed data on their home lending activity. Over the years, community organizations and concerned citizens have used HMDA data as a tool to determine which banks are lending in their community.
HMDA Data Enhancements Read More »
