Owners of Palos Verdes real estate as well as the rest of the country are going to be hit with additional loan fees from Fannie Mae later this Spring when they purchase or refinance a home. Freddie Mac started charging these fees before Thanksgiving. According to a recent LA Times article by Kenneth R. Harney, these two organizations “fund or guarantee upward of two-thirds of new mortgage originations.”
Some examples of these new fees are – A buyer with a FICO score over 800 needing a $300,000 loan and less than 25% down would have to pay an additional $750 (an extra quarter of a percentage point). A buyer with a FICO score of 679 and a down payment of less than 20% will be charged an Add-On Fee equal to 2.75% of the mortgage – for a $300,000 mortgage that would be an additional $8,250! Condos will be charged an additional 3/4 of a point. Rental properties and loans with interest only payments will also get separate fees.
The LA Times article goes on to say, “But these fees are just the start of the multilayered, cumulative risk-based pricing system that both Fannie and Freddie employ. Every perceived risk factor in a loan transaction receives its own separate add-on fee. Click here to read the entire article.
