Why Conforming Loans Should Matter to You

In the United States, mortgage loans are governed by a set of rules of compliance. This ensures that loans are fair to both the lender and the borrower. The required guidelines are set forth by the group of financial services corporations created by the United States Congress. These corporations are known as Government-Sponsored Enterprises, or GSEs.

Loans found to be GSE guideline-compliant are called conforming loans. Non-conforming loans then are those that do not meet these specific guidelines. Loans that do not meet GSE guidelines solely because its amount is higher than the limit set by the guidelines are additionally known as jumbo loans.

Before 1970, there really weren’t any residential mortgage loan guidelines. Fannie Mae was authorized to purchase these types of loans as a lender in 1970 by the United States government. Fannie Mae collaborated with Freddie Mac to develop universal mortgage documents at that time. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also collaborated to develop conforming loan standards we still use today. Conforming loans are highly sought after by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so they have more liquidity than their non-conforming loan counterpart.

Only those loans that meet the criteria set by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight are bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Debt-to-income home buyer ratio limits and documents required before the loans can go through are examples of some criteria. The maximum loan amount is also considered a specific factor in that regard, based on the October-to-October changes in median home price. This makes demand for non-conforming loans quite drastically less as well, because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can only purchase, repackage and sell loans within the criteria set by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

For high-cost regions of the United States, the 2008 economic stimulus package also incorporated an increase in the conforming loan limits on a temporary basis. Even though these bills became law in February 13, 2008 when President Bush signed them, as late as March 30, 2009 lenders will still refusing to acknowledge them. Even if you don’t think it will affect you as a potential home buyer, it is never a bad idea to understand these types of underlying issues in the housing market.

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