Co-borrowers
Borrowing with a co-borrower: the lower score can price the loan.
A household can have several borrower scores, but loan-level pricing may be controlled by the lower borrower’s representative score.
Fannie Mae pricing
On a Fannie loan with multiple borrowers, the lowest borrower representative score prices the loan, even when a different aggregate score may be used for an eligibility test.
Illustration: borrower representative scores of 719 and 681 price from 681. If the lower borrower moves up a pricing tier, the loan-level pricing position can change even though the other borrower’s score is unchanged.
FHA manual underwriting
For FHA manual underwriting, the lowest borrower MDCS can determine whether the file is eligible for the 580+ stretch-ratio rules.
Mortgage insurance can have borrower-count adjustments
The Enact card also contains multi-borrower eligibility and adjustment rules. This guide does not invent a numeric borrower-count adjustment; the applicable card must be checked for the actual transaction.
Notes and sources
- Fannie Mae B3-5.1-02, HUD manual underwriting rules, and the Enact card cited in the score card.
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