First American Corp. has compiled a directory of more than 200 loan officers who are using its Anthem suite of credit reporting applications to help home buyers with limited credit histories qualify for prime-grade mortgage loans.
First American’s Anthem Lender Directory is designed to help real estate agents, community-based organizations and home buyers find lenders who are using “the latest credit evaluation techniques to deliver the best possible loans at the best possible prices,” the company said in a press release.
According to First American’s credit information subsidiary, First American CREDCO, 20 percent of Americans are “unscorable” using traditional credit bureau data. But they may qualify for prime-grade loans if an alternative payment history is used in the loan evaluation process.
Anthem augments traditional credit bureau data with rent, utilities, insurance and other types of payment histories to produce a more comprehensive view of a borrower’s payment behavior, First American said. On a 30-year, $300,000 loan, a family that qualifies for a 6 percent interest rate will pay $600 less per month and save $220,000 over the life of a similar loan with a 9 percent interest rate, the company said.
“Often the only barrier keeping that family from the lower rate is a credit score derived from data that does not fully reflect the borrower’s willingness and ability to repay the loan,” said Landon V. Taylor, vice president of market development at First American, in a statement. “Lenders who use alternative credit solutions are helping lift this barrier and leveling the playing field for prospective home buyers with nontraditional banking, credit and spending patterns.”
First American rolled out the Anthem directory at the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals convention in Las Vegas, along with new features in the application itself, including Spanish language credit reporting and disclosures, international credit data reporting, and automated individual tax identification number identification (ITIN) identification.
First American says Anthem meets mortgage loan underwriting and due diligence requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The company announced that the Neighborhood Housing Services of America is now using Anthem to help qualify “thin-credit/no-credit” borrowers for prime-grade mortgages.
