Two-Tiered Mortgage System Means Higher Costs for Some
Even as the housing and mortgage markets are stabilizing, many borrowers with good credit remain shut out of the home loan market or saddled with a new array of fees and extra costs. Lending standards may have loosened since the end of the Great Recession six years ago, but mostly for buyers with excellent credit scores of more than 700, analysts say. Borrowers with minor credit dings, or down payments of less than 20 percent, still...
Reverse Mortgage Due When Borrowers Die
As more seniors turn to reverse mortgages, their adult children might be puzzled or concerned about what will happen to that debt when their parents die. Nearly all reverse mortgages are home equity conversion mortgages, or HECMs, which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration. HECMs are subject to some rules that might not apply to non-HECMs. The first thing adult children should know about HECMs is that these reverse...
