KENNETH R. HARNEY: Your FICO score is not your mortgage destiny
KENNETH R. HARNEY: Your FICO score is not your mortgage destiny the current market shift — lenders willing to take on slightly more risk with lower-scoring borrowers — is borne out by new data from mortgage software giant Ellie Mae. In its latest study of rates, scores, down payments and other loan terms, researchers found that in December of last year, fully two-thirds — 66.1 percent — of homebuyers insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA ) had FICO scores below 700. A remarkable 5.1 percent of these had deep subprime scores between 500 and 599, indicating exceptionally high risk of future default. At the other end of the scale, just 1.9 percent had FICO scores of 800 or above. To be fair, FHA traditionally has served homebuyers with lower scores than those in the conventional market served by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . But the agency has been slightly more lenient recently on scores and debt-to-income ratios. Fannie and Freddie also have been open t...