© Fannie Mae Single Family Selling Guide

Introduction

This topic contains information on credit card financing.

Credit Card Financing

Fannie Mae permits certain costs that must be paid early in the application process, such as lock-in fees, origination fees, commitment fees, credit report fees, and appraisal fees, to be charged to the borrower's credit card because these fees do not represent extraordinary amounts and the credit card debt is considered in the borrower's total monthly debt-to-income ratio. Borrowers are not required to pay off these credit card changes before closing. Under no circumstances may credit card financing be used for the down payment.

Lenders may allow credit card financing for the payment of common and customary fees paid outside of closing up to a maximum of 2% of the loan amount if the lender:

confirms that the borrower has sufficient liquid funds (financial reserves) to cover these charges (in addition to funds needed for other closing costs and the down payment that he or she will be paying); or
recalculates the credit card payment, per B3-6-05, Monthly Debt Obligations (01/30/2018), to account for the new charges and includes the updated payment in the qualifying ratio calculation.

For DU, lenders must apply this policy manually, by either including the fees charged to the borrower's credit card on line f. Estimated Closing Costs of the Details of Transaction, and removing any "Borrower Paid Fees" entered in the Other Credits section of the Details of Transaction for the fees paid outside of closing; or by increasing the monthly credit card payment in the liabilities section of the loan casefile submitted to DU to include the charges if not reflected in the credit report.

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