The Different Kinds of Mortgage Insurance

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

New House PMIMost folks want to avoid PMI… but they don’t realize that they are happily paying a “kind” of mortgage insurance no matter what kind of loan they are getting!

Mortgage Insurance is not the insurance that covers you if you die, or are disabled and can not pay the mortgage… it’s the insurance that protects the BANK in the event you go into foreclosure.

Given the recent UP TICK in foreclosures, you can see why banks are requiring higher coverage amounts!  If you are applying for a Conventional mortgage, and you are putting more then 20% on a property you plan to live in, you avoid this additional insurance… [Read more...]

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FHA PMI Changes 4/18/2011 – Again

February 16, 2011 By 5 Comments

On February 27, 2012, FHA Announced that they will change the FHA PMI rates, again, on April 2012.  The rates listed below will be in effect until the end of March, 2012.

There are currently two types of Mortgage Insurance or PMI associated with every FHA loan we make.

Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium (sometimes referred to as UFMIP):  The current rate on this premium is currently 1 percent of the loan amount.  At THIS TIME, if you sell the property or refinance it – you will NOT get a refund of the fee as you did in year’s past.

Annual or MONTHLY Mortgage Insurance (I’ve seen it referred to both ways because the borrower will pay for it MONTHLY – but it’s calculated on an annual basis):  The NEW rate for this FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium varies depending upon your down payment – and the length of your loan [Read more...]

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FHA Adding Capital Fast Enough?

September 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

David Stevens, the head of FHA answered questions last week about weather or not his agency would need a “Bailout” from taxpayers. FHA doesn”t make loans, but they insure them, and with so many people without jobs, and properties being foreclosed on… that insurance fund has been tapped into pretty hard.

That’s one of the reasons FHA requested a change in the way MIP is charged.  Those latest, changes go into effect next week.

“If the fund has not gone negative and continues to remain positive it will be thanks to the quick actions of this committee and Congress giving us more authority and actions of this administration,” Commissioner David Stevens said in response to a question at a hearing of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

He went on to tell the Committee:

The FHA is “running on its own. It is financially sound. It is below the minimum capital requirement, so we need to increase that capital but it is not (now) requiring a bailout. We will know more when the actuarial study is complete,” later this fall.

If you are considering a FHA Mortgage Loan in NC, call Steve and Eleanor Thorne, NC FHA Experts 919-649-5058  These changes could definitely make a little less attractive for some folks considering a FHA Streamline Refinance

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FHA PMI Changes 10/4/2010

August 13, 2010 By 2 Comments

FHA Continues to make changes to their PMI Rates.  Because of the number of defaults – the monthly rates and the upfront rates for FHA Mortgage Insurance continues to change.  We keep this information on the site for folks who received a FHA Mortgage loan on, or around October of 2010.  We do have the most up to date information on the rates – in the event you are CURRENTLY looking for a FHA mortgage loan and want to know what the FHA PMI rates are today.

For about the 5th time in the last 36 months FHA is changing the way it charges Mortgage Insurance.  While this is a pretty major shift in the Way Mortgage Insurance is calculated for FHA, it’s only about a net $20 per $100K borrowed difference.

HISTORY of FHA’s PMI (Mortgage Insurance)

First off, it’s not called PMI. FHA doesn’t MAKE mortgage loans, they insure them.  The mortgage insurance that they charge is referred to as MIP (cleaver I know, Mortgage Insurance Premium).  I refer to it in my blog posts as FHA’s PMI... well because from a Consumer’s standpoint it works just like PMI, and most people are familiar with that term.

MIP has been charged TWICE to borrowers for YEARS. FHA collects an UpFront Mortgage Insurance Premium that’s gone from 1.5 to 1.75 t 2.25 to 1% of the loan amount.  In years past they’ve refunded part of this UpFront Premium… so if you took out a loan in say 2002, and then you paid that loan off through a refinance in 2004… you received a substantial chunk of that premium back.

Then the Economy went south, and with the changes they made in 2008, they did completely away with the refund…

The other way FHA collects the premium, is in the MONTHLY MIP premium.  In year’s past, that MIP collected on a monthly basis for loans with less than a 5% downpayment was.55%.  For loans where the borrower made more than a 5% downpayment, the MIP was .50%.

How These Changes Compare to the new October 2010 MIP Rates

Okay, because I can pretty easily do the math in my head, let’s compare the “old” rates for FHA Mortgage Insurance to the “new” rates based upon a $100,000 sales price with a “fictitious” mortgage interest rate of 4.25%.

DownPayment Upfront MIP Monthly MIP Loan Amount
With Upfront MIP		 Total Payment
with MIP		 Difference
NEW Method of Calculating MIP
3.5% 1% $75.75 $97,465.00 $555.22 + $24.60
5% 1% $67.96 $95,950.00 $539.97 + $21.64
OLD Method of Calculating MIP
3.5% 2.25% $45.22 $98,671.00 530.62
5% 2.25% $40.47 $97,137.00 518.33

These numbers, at $100,000 Sales Price don’t look that dramatic…  Let’s take the same format, and change the Sales Price so that we can take advantage of the maximum Loan Amount for Wake County, NC $295,000.

So with a Sales Price of $305,000 the numbers look like this…

DownPayment Upfront MIP Monthly MIP Loan Amount
With Upfront MIP		 Total Payment
with MIP		 Difference
NEW Method of Calculating MIP
3.5% 1% $222.95 $297,268.00 $1685.33 + $66.93
5% 1% $210.56 $297,268.00 $1672.94 + $67.08
OLD Method of Calculating MIP
3.5% 2.25% $137.93 $300,947.00 $1618.40
5% 2.25% $125.39 $300,947.00 $1605.86

Well… what do you know?  It’s STILL not that dramatic a difference.  I know my peers are on Facebook, and sending around video saying that this is a “Tax” on home owners.  It’s not.  It’s a way for FHA to get the cash flow they need, while mortgage loans are defaulting.

HERE’s what I think is interesting! You can buy a house with 2723 square feet, in Raleigh, 4 bedrooms, with a 2 car garage built in 2009 for $219,000. With these new FHA calculations, and with today’s interest rates, your down payment is $7,665 (this can be a GIFT) and your TOTAL monthly payment, including Homeowner dues, and taxes and insurance and EVERYTHING is still less than $1050 a month!

If you have pretty good credit (scores above 620) and not more than $350 a month in debt – a family making only $38,000 a year qualifies for this house! Now THAT my friends, is something to get excited about!

If you are considering a FHA mortgage loan in NC, and you want more information about qualifying for a FHA mortgage loan in Cary or Raleigh NC  - please call Steve and Eleanor Thorne, Mortgage Banker in Cary 919-649-5057.  We know FHA Mortgage Programs, and we have the best Mortgage Rates available!

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DRATS! FHA is Getting More Expensive!

June 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

FHA Continues to make changes to their PMI Rates.  Because of the number of defaults – the monthly rates and the upfront rates for FHA Mortgage Insurance continues to change.  We keep this information on the site for folks who received a FHA Mortgage loan on, or around June of 2010.  We do have the most up to date information on the rates – in the event you are CURRENTLY looking for a FHA mortgage loan and want to know what the FHA PMI rates are today.

 

As we reported in April, Washington is trying to offset the costs of FHA foreclosures… and so it appears that FHA mortgage Loans are going to get more expensive. Many folks don’t realize that FHA doesn’t really MAKE loans… they just INSURE them.

Last week, the House of Representatives gave the FHA power to raise the monthly mortgage insurance premiums it charges to its borrowers. This bill passed almost unanimously, and although it doesn’t force FHA to raise the monthly fees, it still means that these loans will likely be more expensive later this year.

Currently, monthly mortgage insurance premiums are 0.55% of the unpaid loan balance, divided by 12. The recently approved Federal Housing Administration Reform Act provides for an increase in monthly premium of up to 1.55 percent..

Again, the bill does not force FHA to charge the full 1.55 percent, and FHA officials believe that an increase to 0.90 percent would be sufficient to currently cover the cost of these loans.

Here’s the impact on a 200,000 loan:

  • Current Premium (0.55%) : $91.67 monthly mortgage insurance premium
  • Expected Increase (0.90%) : $150.00 monthly mortgage insurance premium
  • Maximum Increase (1.55%) : $258.33 monthly mortgage insurance premium

No doubt, a fairly large increase, like this,  in monthly mortgage insurance premiums will reduce home affordability for buyers in North Carolina and strain some household budgets as people decide if it makes sense to refinance!

FHA charges mortgage insurance two different ways. It charges a monthly fee, and it charges an upfront fee. (for more click here).  FHA’s upfront mortgage insurance changed earlier this year to 2.25%.  This means that if you are borrowing $100,000 your loan amount is $102,250 with the upfront mortgage insurance.  Because higher monthly insurance premiums are expected to cover the default costs,  FHA indicated that it plans to reduce its upfront mortgage insurance premium paid at closing from 2.25 percent down to 1.000 percent.

This makes sense, because homes in many parts of the country are going to lose some of their value in the next 12 to 18 months.  Why would you want to go INTO a deal with that much additional costs? On the same $200,000 mortgage, a move like that would reduce the upfront cost by $2,500.

Bottom line, if you are considering a FHA mortgage – you might want to move quickly, because it’s going to get more expensive!  Call Steve and Eleanor Thorne, Mortgage Banker in Cary , 919-649-5058.  Certified Mortgage Planners in North Carolina!

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FHA PMI update October 2008

October 20, 2008 By 2 Comments

For the most CURRENT FHA MIP -  PMI information as of April 2012 click here

THIS IS INFORMATION ABOUT MIP THAT WAS CHARGED IN 10/2008.  We have it here in the event someone needs to understand how the MIP worked for their mortgage loan taken out in 2008.

This is an update to an earlier post reagarding FHA’s version of Mortgage Insurance (which is sometimes referred to as PMI).

As we mentioned, FHA mortgages have a one-time mortgage insurance premium, known as upfront mortgage insurance. The cost of this insurance has bounced around alot this year – and is NOW 2.25% of the loan.

This upfront fee is non-refundable.  There’s also a monthly fee that’s based upon several things, but will generally run .55% of the loan amount.  If you live in the property for more than 5 years, and you have a 20% equity gap – the monthly amount can be dropped just like with it’s conventional counter part – PMI.

The program is similar to the USDA and VA programs.  Both of those loan programs have a type of mortgage insurance (called a Guarantee Fee), that’s non refundable.  The biggest difference is that FHA also has a monthly fee collected.

The common belief that the monthly mortgage insurance on a FHA loan is very expensive is wrong.  Unlike a Conventional Loan, no matter how much you put down, it’s either .55 percent of your base loan amount. When you compare this program to a Conventional Loan Program that requires PMI, you would need to put down at least 10% down in order to get to .52 percent.

These PMI amounts are accurate for Condos, 203k loans – or regular 203b FHA loans.

For more info – call Steve Thorne, Cary Mortgage Loans, 919-649-5058 – FHA Mortgage Loan Specialist!

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