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How Long Before You Can Refinance An Fha Loan

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What Is The Fha Cash Out Max Ltv

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The maximum LTV for an FHA cash out refinance is 80% of the appraised value of the home. Your lender will require a full appraisal before issuing a final approval. At that time, your loan amount can be adjusted to meet the maximum 80% LTV requirement

What Can the FHA Cash Out Refinance Funds be Used For?

The FHA does not restrict what the cash out funds can be used for. However, these are the typical reasons why homeowners opt for a FHA cash out refinance:

  • To make home improvements

In the end, you can use the funds for anything you want.

Do I Have To Pay Closing Costs On A Fha Streamline Refinance

The borrower pays closing costs on an FHA Streamline Refinance. Unlike other types of refinances, you cannot roll these costs into your loan amount. FHA Streamline closing costs are typically the same as other mortgages: 2 to 5 percent of the mortgage amount, which would equal $3,000 to $7,500 on a $150,000 loan.

What Does It Mean To Refinance

Simply put, refinancing is replacing your current home loan with a brand new one. Heres why that might be an option, even if you have a decent rate already:

  • You want to reduce monthly payments with a lower interest rate or a longer-term
  • Youd like to pay off your mortgage faster by shortening the terms
  • Youve re-evaluated having an adjustable-rate mortgage and want to convert it to a fixed-rate mortgage
  • Youve got financial hardships, home improvements, or a major purchase on the horizon and you want to tap into your home equity
  • Your credit rating has improved making you eligible for a better rate
  • You want to get rid of PMI that came with your original loan
  • Youve since gotten married or divorced, and you want to add or subtract someone from the loan

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Refinancing To A Conventional Loan

The biggest perk to choosing a conventional refinance over an FHA one is that you can avoid mortgage insurance entirely. FHA loans come with mortgage insurance premiums anywhere from 11 years to the entire loan term. With conventional loans, theres no insurance required as long as you own at least 20% of the home.

Different Types Of Fha Loans

Can You Refinance FHA Loan?

The FHA offers a variety of different loan programs besides purchase loans to meet the needs of homebuyers and homeowners throughout their financial lives.

Type of FHA loan
Borrowers can purchase or refinance a home and roll the costs of the renovations into one loan with the FHA 203 rehab loan program
Energy-efficient mortgage Homeowners can add the cost of energy-saving upgrades to the balance of a purchase or refinance loan with an FHA energy-efficient mortgage
Home equity conversion mortgage More commonly known as a reverse mortgage, the HECM loan gives borrowers age 62 or older multiple options to access their equity and avoid a monthly payment
Section 245 loan This program gives qualified borrowers the option to choose a loan with lower initial payments that increase as their income rises , or the choice to increase principal payments and pay off the loan faster

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How Long Before You Can Refinance With The Fha Streamline Loan

May 19, 2020 By JMcHood

If you bought your home with an FHA loan, you may be able to refinance without verifying your qualifying information all over again. The FHA streamline refinance makes it easy for FHA borrowers to refinance.

The key is, though, you have to wait at least 210 days and make six payments on your FHA loan before you can apply for the FHA streamline refinance.

You Might Be Able To Refinance Right After Closing

With mortgage rates at historic lows, many homeowners find themselves wondering, How soon can I refinance?

Maybe you just bought a house, or even refinanced recently. But it might not be too soon to refinance again.

Many homeowners can refinance into a lowerrate loan with no waiting period. And others need to wait as little as six months. So theres a good chance youre eligible to refinance at todays low rates.

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Understanding Fha Loan Mortgage Insurance

FHA borrowers have to pay two types of FHA mortgage insurance to protect FHA-approved lenders from the financial risk of defaults. The first is an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% of your loan amount, which is charged at closing and typically added to your mortgage balance.

The second is an ongoing annual mortgage insurance premium that ranges from 0.45% to 1.05%, depending on your down payment and loan term. Its charged annually, divided by 12 and then added to your monthly payment. Heres an example of how much FHA mortgage insurance youd pay on a $300,000 loan amount assuming you make a 3.5% with an annual MIP charge of 0.85%.

FHA UFMIP calculation:

  • Convert 1.75% to the decimal
  • Multiply by the loan amount: 0.0175% x $300,000 = $5,250 FHA UFMIP premium added to your loan amount
  • Convert 0.85% to a decimal
  • Multiply by the loan amount 0.0085% x $300,000 = $2,550
  • $2,550 divided by 12 = $212.50 monthly MIP charge added to your monthly payment

There are some important differences between FHA mortgage insurance and conventional private mortgage insurance :

Youll typically pay FHA MIP for the life of your loan. This is true if you make a minimum FHA 3.5% down payment. However, if you can make at least a 10% down payment, MIP drops off after 11 years. You can get rid of conventional PMI once you can prove you have 20% equity.

Fha Refinance Vs Conventional

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Both FHA and conventional mortgage refinances come with their own benefits and eligibility requirements. Generally, refinancing to a conventional loan will come with stricter , equity, and documentation standards, but it also holds potentially more benefits for the right homeowner.

  • Must be current on mortgage payments
  • Must have made at least 6 months of on-time payments
  • Typically need a 43% debt-to-income ratio or less

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Choosing The Fha Cash

If you wish to take cash out of the equity of your home, you can do so with an FHA Cash-Out Refinance. Unlike the Streamline Refinance, this program will require that you fully verify all aspects of your loan application. The largest difference with this program is that you must have 12-months of seasoning before you can apply for it.

The other stark differences between the Cash Out and Streamline program include:

  • The loan-to-value for a cash-out loan is 85%
  • An appraisal is required to determine the value of the property
  • Income must be verified

Before you apply for an FHA refinance, determine the reason you wish to refinance in the first place. If it is in order to lower your rate, the Streamline Refinance program is usually the best bet as it allows you to minimally verify your qualifications for the loan with the exception of requiring that you have on-time housing payments.

The Streamline Refinance program requires that you strictly refinance to lower the rate, however. This means that you can only include the outstanding principal of your original FHA loan plus any upfront MIP you must pay.

If you need cash out for any reason, such as debt consolidation, home improvements, or just for an emergency fund, you must use the fully qualifying FHA refinance. With this program you are not restricted to just the outstanding balance and MIP you can include any amount up to 85% of the value of the home.

Making A Plan To Get Rid Of Fha Mortgage Insurance Is A Great Financial Decision

When youre youre making a home purchase, youre mainly focused on getting into a place where you can set down roots and build a solid future. The down payment can be a big hurdle so high FHA PMI costs can be a worthwhile trade-off.

But now youre settled in, its time to think about getting rid of FHA mortgage insurance. These high monthly PMI payment costs could and should be going into savings, a childs college fund, or toward loan principal.

Dont delay. Even if youre not able to cancel your mortgage insurance now, make a plan for how youre going to do it.

Ten or twenty years down the road, youll be glad you did.

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Can You Refinance An Fha Loan After 6 Months

How Soon Can I Refinance An FHA Loan? Certain loans have waiting periods before you can refinance. For example, if you’re looking to do an FHA Streamline, 6 months must have passed since the due date of the first payment in order to close on the mortgage. You also have to have made six payments on the existing loan.

How Soon Can You Refinance A Usda Loan

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If you have a USDA loan thats backed by the federal government, youll have to wait 12 months before you can refinance.

But, more rarely, the USDA offers direct loans. That means its lending you its own money rather than just guaranteeing a private lenders loan. If you have one of those, there are no formal rules governing seasoning periods for refinances.

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Types Of Fha Refinance Loans And Why To Refinance

Knowing you have the option to refinance an FHA loan, you may wonder if now is the right time. These are common reasons homeowners choose to refinance an FHA loan:

  • Mortgage rates dropped recently
  • The value of your home has gone up
  • You may need the extra cash
  • You would like to switch over to a conventional loan
  • You could save money in the long run

The two most common types of FHA refinancing are FHA Streamline and FHA Cash-Out.

The one you choose will ultimately depend on your goal and why you are looking into refinancing your home.

If your primary purpose is to lower your current monthly payments or to shorten your loan term, then FHA Streamline may be the better option. If you need the extra cash, an FHA Cash-Out would be a reasonable choice.

Benefits Of Refinancing An Fha Loan To A Conventional Loan

One of the main advantages of refinancing from an FHA loan to a conventional loan is the ability to eliminate FHA mortgage insurance premiums .

With a conventional loan, once your balance reaches 80 percent of your homes original value, you can cancel private mortgage insurance . This option doesnt exist in most cases for FHA loans, so youll continue to pay premiums unless you refinance to another type of loan.

If you refinance your FHA loan to a conventional loan and still have to pay mortgage insurance due to your equity level, you may find that the premium costs more now than what it cost for your FHA loan. Refinancing, however, may have lowered your monthly payments enough to compensate, and the tradeoff is that youll be able to cancel PMI, eventually, on the conventional loan.

  • Conventional PMI: 0.58 percent to 1.85 percent, according to averages from the Urban Institute
  • FHA MIP: 0.75 percent upfront and 0.45 percent to 1.05 percent yearly

Another benefit to refinancing your FHA loan to a conventional loan is that conventional mortgages allow you to tap up to 80 percent of your homes equity through a cash-out refinance without paying mortgage insurance. Conventional loans also have higher loan limits, so you can take out a larger amount compared to an FHA loan.

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How Long Does It Take To Refinance A House

Understanding the refinance process, the average timeline and what to expect as you close can make everything about your refinance a little easier.

Well introduce you to the basics behind most refinances and give you a few tips you can use to close on your refinance faster. Well also help you decide whether youve hit on the right time to refinance your home.

Does A Streamline Fha Refi Make More Sense

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If you cant meet the requirements for a conventional loan but still want to refinance, an alternative option is to apply for an FHA Streamline Refinance. This program allows FHA homeowners trapped in a high-interest ARM or fixed-rate mortgage to refinance quickly and easily to take advantage of a lower rate without the complications of in-depth documentation, credit, or income verification.

If the value of your property has decreased, interest rates on an ARM keep going up, or your income has been reduced, you could be at risk for default. The Streamline program was designed specifically to help reduce loan defaults. If you want to apply for a Streamline FHA refi, you must:

  • Already have an FHA-backed mortgage
  • Not have any missing or late mortgage payments
  • Have at least 210 days or six months of consecutive on-time payments

You wont be able to get a cash-out with an FHA Streamline refinance. Youll also have to continue paying PMI, but any UFPMI will be absorbed into your new mortgage instead of being due up-front at closing.

For a FHA Streamline refi, youll also need to demonstrate a Net Tangible Benefit, which is your valid reason for refinancing. The benefit can be any of the following:

  • A switch from an ARM to a fixed-rate mortgage
  • A 5% reduction in your payment principal and interest plus MIP

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Alternatives To Refinancing To A Conventional Loan

If all of that seems like too much or youre unable to refinance to a conventional loan an FHA Streamline Refinance could be a good alternative option. An FHA Streamline Refinance can allow you to enjoy some of the benefits of refinancing without changing to a conventional loan. You may still be able to lower your interest rate and reduce your monthly payment, but you wont be able to get rid of mortgage insurance and youll still need to pay closing costs. This type of refinance comes with another benefit: a speedier, more simplified process. Thats because it typically requires less documentation and may not require an appraisal.

While the lender may consider fewer credit factors with an FHA Streamline, it still performs a credit check. If you dont meet minimum credit score requirements for an FHA Streamline or to refinance FHA to conventional, you may want to consider learning how to refinance with bad credit.

Can You Refinance An Fha Loan

Yes, you can. In order to refinance an FHA loan, you have to qualify for either the FHA loan or another loan type. Well go over some of whats necessary to qualify for individual types of home loans a bit later on, but for now, lets speak in general terms.

Your credit score and history affect whether you can qualify. In addition to the score itself, your payment history and previous negative marks, like bankruptcy or a forbearance, affect who can qualify and when. These latter items are a little more complicated and we would recommend speaking with a Home Loan Expert to help you navigate through the process.

In addition, if youre looking to do an FHA Streamline, going from one FHA loan to another for the purpose of changing your term, lowering your rate or both, theres often a waiting period.

Finally, theres a minimum equity amount thats required in order to refinance in many cases. If this is the case, the amount required typically depends on the type and purpose of the loan.

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Fha Refinance Loan Types

There are two main types of FHA loan refinancing loans:

  • FHA streamlined refinance: The FHA offers a streamlined refinance option for borrowers who want to quickly refinance an existing FHA loan to get a lower rate and/or monthly payment. The biggest caveat to the FHA streamline refinance program is that you can only take up to $500 in cash out of your home. However, there’s a big advantage: You hardly have to provide any documentation. As long as your existing loan is current and is at least six months old, you won’t have to go through the FHA appraisal process again.
  • FHA cash-out refinance: If you want to tap into your equity , there is an FHA cash-out refinance option. However, the process is a bit more involved. Specifically, you’ll need to re-qualify based on your credit and income, and you’ll need to get a new appraisal. The maximum LTV on an FHA cash-out refinance is 80%.

You don’t have to use another FHA loan to refinance. In fact, if you have strong credit and at least 20% equity in your home, you could refinance with a conventional mortgage. If you’re not sure about the difference, find out more about an FHA vs. conventional loan.

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This is one of the more common refinance options when it comes to FHA loans for those trying to avoid mortgage insurance altogether. Once you reach 20% equity in your home, there is no private mortgage insurance , which can serve as a big incentive on its own to refinance.

Additionally, conventional mortgages may often come with better rates, depending on your credit score and the amount of equity you have, among other things.

In order to qualify to go from an FHA loan to a conventional loan, your debt-to-income ratio should be around 43% or lower to give yourself the best chance of approval. Also, you need a median 620 credit score or better. The credit requirements could be a downside for some because the FHA is a bit more lenient.

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