USDA Streamlined Refinancing
Categories: Banking
There are traditional mortgages, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, Veteran’s Affairs (VA) mortgages...and then there are USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) mortgages. If you got a USDA mortgage, you could qualify for a USDA streamlined refi.
USDA loans are government-sponsored loans for low-income rural folk via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To qualify for a USDA streamlined refinance, you have to have made on-time payments for a year, and you have to have lived in the house as your primary residence. Plus, the refi must result in your payment being lowered by at least $50 a month.
It’s “streamlined” because it skips a lot of steps in regular refis: no credit report, no appraisal of the home’s current value, etc. You just have to show that your income and debt-to-income ratio is still low enough to be getting USDA benefits.
There’s also the USDA streamlined-assist program, which helps USDA homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments.
