The Kentucky USDA/Rural Development loan Annual Guarantee Fee is set to INCREASE October 1. 2014.  Mark your calendar and prepare your processors for this change.  Any loans that will be sent to Kentucky Rural Housing  USDA for Commitment 10/1/14 or after will need to have this fee showing properly.  Which translates to loans that you start in September that are anticipating a conditional commitment being issued October 1 or after, will need the proper fee disclosed for us to send to USDA.  Please understand that this may hold up the file from being sent to USDA in a timely manner.

Please note that the Kentucky Rural Development Upfront Guarantee Fee is not changing and will remain at the current 2% rate.  The new Annual Fee will be increased to .50%.  The terms currently in place regarding the fee remain the same.  It will continue to be based on the unpaid principal balance and remain for the life of the loan.

In the case that a loan was obligated prior to October 1, but there is a change to the loan requiring it to go back to RD for a new Commitment, the borrowers will be subject to the new annual guarantee fee amount. 

Adverse credit is listed in section 1980.345(d)(1). If a manually underwritten loan
is approved by the underwriter with any indicators of adverse credit, the underwriter
must document a credit waiver on the underwriting analysis to establish the
applicant’s intent for good credit. The applicant must provide the lender with
evidence to explain how the circumstances of the adverse credit meet the
requirements of 1980.345(d)(3)(i).

The evidence must support the adverse credit
was:

1.) temporary in nature,

2.) beyond the applicant’s control and

3.) the circumstances contributing to the adverse credit have been removed . Evidence
presented by the applicant must be retained in the lender’s permanent loan file. A
properly documented credit waiver will explain the details surrounding the adverse
credit to support the rational of the underwriter for their loan approval decision.
Exception: Manually underwritten loan files and GUS loans that receive a “Refer”
or “Refer with Caution” underwriting recommendation:

Credit scores of 680 and above: A documented credit waiver from the lender must
be submitted to RD. The supporting documentation from the applicant(s) is not
required to be submitted to RD. This documentation must be retained in the
lender’s permanent case file, available for future compliance reviews.

Credit scores of 679 to 581: The documented credit waiver and supporting
documentation must be submitted to RD and retained in the lender’s permanent case
file.
Credit scores for 580 and below: Lenders should not approve loans with credit
scores of 580 and below if the loan exhibits any of the indicators of unacceptable
credit listed in section 1980.345(d)(1).

GUS “Accept” loans that have adverse credit accounts selected as “omit” by the
underwriter do not require a documented credit waiver to be submitted to RD.
Lenders are responsible to retain documentation provided by the applicant to
support their data entries in GUS. Lenders should enter comments in the “Notes”
section to support the omission of any debts on the “Asset and Liabilities”
application page.