As this video explains, ‘Federal laws put into effect in 2014 and ‘supervised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’define lending practices and loan terms for a new category’called ‘Qualified Mortgages.’
They provide stable loan features for consumers’and improve legal protection for lenders’who follow the guidelines.
These guidelines require lenders to assess’each borrower’s ability to repay their mortgage loan.
As of 2014, guidelines’require that a borrower’s monthly DEBT – including mortgage – be no higher than 43% of their monthly gross INCOME
The laws also define unacceptable loan terms:
- interest-only loans
- terms over 30 years
- negative-amortization loans that increase principal over time
- most balloon loans