September 10, 2012
A reader asks, “I have been approved for an FHA home loan or so my loan officer told me. She said everything was good I had been approved, a closing date was selected and ten minutes later I get a text message from my loan officer that the underwriter requires one more document.”
“I am on Social Security Disability, proof of all income was provided, but now the underwriter wants a letter from my doctor guaranteeing that my medical condition will not change for the next 3 years! No doctor can guarantee my health or anyone else’s, can the lender suddenly deny my loan? My doctor would look at me like I had totally lost my mind. Please help me with this.”
Situations like this happen more often than you might think. It’s not our place to make a judgment call on the legality or propriety of a borrower, lender or third party’s actions with regard to the reader’s question here. Instead, it’s best to simply quote from the official sources and advise our reader to contact the FHA directly at 1-800 CALL FHA to get some advice from an FHA rep on this situation.
From the FHA/HUD official site, this press release (HUDNo.12-036) issued in February 2012 states:
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that it is charging Bank of America with discriminating against homebuyers with disabilities. HUD alleges that Bank of America imposed unnecessary and burdensome requirements on borrowers who relied on disability income to qualify for their home loans and required some disabled borrowers to provide physician statements to qualify for home mortgage loans.” (Emphasis ours.)
The press release goes on to say, “Holding homebuyers with disabilities to a higher standard just because they rely on disability payments as a source of income is against the law,” said John Trasvi
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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