Hi, it’s Tom Heath with the Mortgage Guidance Group at Nova Home Loans. And this is our weekly
installment of mortgage and real estate related matters.
Today’s topic is student loans, and another reason why you should encourage your clients to
get pre-qualified early in the process. We have seen some guideline changes recently in how
loan programs work with student loan payment plans. There are different loans, FHA VA, conventional,
and they each have their own guidelines on how we have to treat student loan debt.
A lot of times, a student loan is deferred, meaning there is no payment due, and each of those
programs has a calculation we have to use in order to estimate a monthly payment, which would
affect the debt-to-income ratio. FHA just recently reduced their requirement, so it’s made
it a little bit easier for people to qualify, but there are still several different options
that we have to explore. It’s possible for a consumer To get an income-based repayment plan,
Even if they’re in deferment, which means we can sometimes help them qualify for the home that
they want by helping them navigate the student loan process.
Again, not something you need to necessarily worry about having this conversation with your
clients, just make sure they get in touch with your lender as soon as possible so we can review
those options and make sure they are well qualified as they possibly can be when the time is right
to make that offer. Thanks so much, and we’ll talk to you soon. Another installment of mortgage
and real estate related matters.
