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Home Loans -- Federal Regulators Warn Lenders To Be More Careful
By: Charles Essmeier
Federal banking regulators have recently expressed some concern over the housing
market as home prices in the United States have risen to record levels. While
homes are more unaffordable than ever for many people, the lending market
remains strong, mostly because of the introduction of new, ever-more-flexible
types of loans. While these newer loan types, such as the interest-only loan,
make buying a home easier for some borrowers, they also propose a greater risk
to the lender.
The lending market has been quite aggressive during the last five years, as
investors and homebuyers have purchased real estate in record numbers. Buyers
who are skittish about investing in stocks have put their money into real estate
instead, and prices have climbed to record levels. Lenders have been all too
happy to accommodate the long line of customers in their offices with an
ever-increasing array of products. With hundreds of loan types available, nearly
everyone can qualify for some type of mortgage today. The problem, as regulators
point out, is that some of the more popular types of loans are inherently risky.
Two such examples are the interest-only loan, and home equity loans that exceed
100% of a home’s value.
The problem with such loans is that they are both issued under the assumption
that home prices will continue to rise. Prices may continue to rise, but if they
don’t or worse, if they fall, lenders could find themselves in the ugly position
of holding liens on property that is worth considerably less than the amount of
the loan. As of yet, there’s no sign of a crash in real estate prices, but
foreclosures are up in both Texas and Florida, and this could be an indictor of
more difficult times ahead for the lending industry. The banking regulators
didn’t issue any orders regarding how high-risk loans should be handled, but
they did caution lenders to check the credit scores of borrowers carefully and
to eschew or cut back on so-called “no-doc” loans, which do not require full
documentation of a borrowers assets or income.
This should be of relatively little concern for the average borrower, who would
probably think that such guidelines represent ordinary common sense.
Unfortunately, common sense sometimes gets ignored during boom times in
business, only to be remembered when buyers start to default on their loans. By
that time, it’s too late to do anything, and the stockholders are left with the
debt.
About the Author:
©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including http://www.End-Your-Debt.com, a Website devoted to debt consolidation
information and http://www.HomeEquityHelp.net, a site devoted to information on
home equity loans. |