Borrowers may no longer need to worry about collecting pay stubs for a home mortgage application. Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae announced Monday that it would allow lenders to use employment and income information from a database operated by credit bureau Equifax to verify borrowers’ creditworthiness. Fannie says it will no longer require lenders to rely on collecting physical copies of paystubs and tax data, which has what traditionally has been required.
Fannie also announced changes that could ease mortgage credit. Fannie said that in 2016 it would ease the lender process for granting loans to borrowers who don’t have a credit score. Borrowers who have a traditional score from Fair Isaac will still need to meet the 620 minimum (on a scale from 300 to 850).
Also in mid-2016, Fannie said it would mandate lenders to start collecting “trended” credit data from Equifax and TransUnion, which includes longer-term borrower credit histories. The extra information will help Fannie see if borrowers are paying off their credit card bill every month or just making the minimum payment or if they’re letting balances rise. Borrowers who are making the full payment could see perks then.
“You can do things like approve more customers or give customers better rates,” says Steve Chaouki, head of TransUnion’s financial services group.
Source: “Need a Home Mortgage? Fannie Says Forget the Pay Stubs,” The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 20, 2015)
