Always Pay Your Rent On Time? How it May Help Your Mortgage Application
Until recently, rental payments to your landlord didn’t have an impact on your application for a mortgage, but Fannie Mae is looking to change that.
Fannie Mae is the federally backed institution that purchases mortgages from banks and other financial institutions that evaluate and underwrite potential borrowers. Essentially, they set many of the standards for what data matters and who qualifies for a mortgage. They have announced that they now plan to review an applicant’s rental payment history and taking it into account during their review process for granting a loan.
This will have the largest impact for tenants who otherwise would not have a robust credit history. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau roughly 20% of American adults have no or limited credit history, potentially there are millions of people within the US that would benefit from this expanded review. Currently less than 1% of the data that is sent to the credit bureaus are related to rental payments, this could be because currently landlords must submit reports directly to the credit bureaus.
Fannie Mae however is looking at alternative ways of submission instead of relying solely on landlords providing the information to the credit bureaus. This could include showing proof of payments thru bank statements or other sources that can be validated.
At Camber we will continue to evolve our processes to ensure that the tenants making on time rental payments on our homes are recognized through this system. On the other side of the coin, the tenants that fail to pay or do not pay in a timely manner pursuant to their lease, it will shine a light for future landlords and have effects on their abilities to secure a mortgage.
As times continue to change, especially with COVID-19, and the evolution of lifestyles, it is encouraging to see that lenders are beginning to look at the whole picture when analyzing applicants as a large portion of our population rents at one point or another before choosing home ownership. So in a nutshell, on time rental payments are not just important to your current landlord, it could affect your ability to secure a mortgage in the future.

