FHA Loans Grow Costly as Banks Add Fees

Wall Street Journal (04/04/08) P. A2; Hagerty, James R.
Mortgage industry professionals say more big lenders will follow JPMorgan Chase's lead and add fees to loans that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The move comes at a time when Congress wants to rely more on the FHA to jump-start mortgage lending and revive the housing market. "It's a waste of everybody's time," Kevin Lynch, a mortgage broker at A. Anderson Scott Mortgage Group in Rockville, Md., says of FHA loans now that they have become so expensive. Also, some borrowers who would otherwise qualify for an FHA loan will be shut out of the market because many banks have started to require minimum credit scores for the loans.