It wasn’t that long ago that the mortgage industry recognized the 10-year anniversary of the end of the financial crisis, highlighting the giant strides the industry has made to protect and support the American dream of homeownership. Now, just a couple years later, the industry is in another make-or-break situation, with many lenders worried about their ability to survive the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Companies are adjusting their lending requirements as fast as governments are changing regulations and updating stay-at-home orders, fueling increased communication as everyone tries to figure out what the steady flow of changes means for them.
To get a reading on how people in the mortgage industry are handling the ever-changing impact of the pandemic, HousingWire surveyed its own LendingLife readers and received dozens of replies on how they’re handling the current lending environment. The answers from these lenders vary drastically from person to person, showing there is no one-size-fits-all solution for getting through this crisis.
However, the impact to originators has some common themes across the lending landscape, including increases in credit score and down payment requirements and the state of government loans versus conforming loans.
When it comes to credit scores, phrases such as overlays “requiring higher down payments and credit scores for purchase loans,” “minimum credit scores increased” and “raising of credit scores and additional layers of due diligence,” were all too common.
Source: Housingwire
