FAQ – The Government has reopened, for now; how is my mortgage affected?

After a 15 day government shutdown that seems to have accomplished little else  except forcing the federal government to admit they have to create a budget and soon, the Fed has opened for business. So now what? 

Internal Revenue Service

The IRS has already resumed processing the IRS Request for Transcript of Tax Return (4506t), a requirement of all loans today. The IRS has also resumed processing audits (joy).

Conventional, FHA Loans & VA Loans
As stated in a previous post, most Conventional, FHA Loans & VA Loans loans were not impacted by the government shutdown except for as stated above.

USDA – Guaranteed Rural Development Housing Loans

The USDA Service Centers are open once again with a few key points to consider:

Several USDA websites/applications were disabled in connection with the recent Federal Government shutdown.  This has delayed USDA’s completion of fiscal year-end accounting processes.  This process will take several days to complete. The USDA is uncertain when fiscal year 2014 funding will become available in the system.  Thus, beginning on Oct. 21, 2013, the USDA will begin issuing Conditional Commitments “subject to commitment authority.” Which basically just means once they get everything sorted out on their computers systems they will be back to guaranteeing rural development loans, at least until the next fiscal showdown which conveniently allows  Congress and the President to kick the can down the road without any threat to their Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday plans. How nice!

Meanwhile at the USDA Service Center in Raleigh, processing of Rural Development Loans has resumed. According to the lender hotline, files that were received on September 5^th are being underwritten today on October 18^th. This tells me that at the time of the shutdown, they were operating on a 16 business day turn time.

The one ray of sunshine throughout this ordeal is that existing USDA Map’s will remain in effect, at least until Jan 15, 2014. Therefore if you are considering buying a home in Clayton, Knightdale, Wendell, , Garner, Rolesville, Wake Forest or Zebulon North Carolina, get your loan application started now. This will help reduce the risk of  getting caught in the next government shutdown which is almost inevitable considering how unilateral this not-so-grand bargain was for the minority in Congress who opposed it in the first place.

Ricardo Cobos is a Mortgage Loan Officer in Raleigh North Carolina expertly assisting financing homes with  low interest rates and low down payment Conventional, FHA and VA mortgage loans for move up buyers and first time home buyers alike. Call me at (919)526-0183  or email me your questions , I’m here to help!

Related articles

• FAQ: Will a government shut-down delay my mortgage loan application? (theraleighmortgageguy.com)
• What is a Request for Transcript Return IRS Form 4506 -T (theraleighmortgageguy.com)