August 17, 2012
When you apply for an FHA mortgage loan, you’re required to list your employment history so it can be verified before loan approval. For borrowers who have had steady jobs with the same employer for two years or more, this isn’t a great cause for concern.
Borrowers who have changed jobs more frequently than that may be worried that their job history might work against them on the FHA loan application. Is this fear grounded in reality? Or does the FHA make provisions for borrowers with recent job changes, a history of seasonal employment or other issues?
According to the FHA loan rules found in HUD 4155.1, these issues are circumstantial and must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to avoid discriminating against legitimate, qualified FHA borrowers who happen to do seasonal work, have moved to a different or better job in recent times, or who work in a career that is non-traditional.
A section of the FHA loan rules called “Verifying Employment History” gives instructions to the lender on how to proceed:
“To be eligible for a mortgage, FHA does not require a minimum length of time that a borrower must have held a position of employment.
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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