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Entries Tagged as 'Stated Income Verified Assets (SIVA)'

The Alphabet Soup of Today’s Financing – FD, SIVA, SISA, NR, NINA, ND

March 7th, 2007 · No Comments

Yikes! What do all these acronyms mean, and which one is the best type of financing for your? For most homebuyers (and their realtors), they don’t care how the loan gets done, they just want it done – with as little work and hassle as possible. Behind the scenes, lenders are actually getting very creative in the types of documentation programs that they require (or waive). Some of these variants may make a difference on the pricing, speed and riskiness of the transaction, so it’s a good idea for all parties to become at least a little bit familiar with these strange acronyms.

GLOSSARY:

FD – Full documentation. The crème-de-la-crème of real estate financing, and the most traditional documentation type. Borrower provides full income documentation (2 pay stubs, 2 W2s or 2 years tax forms for all borrowers) and full asset documentation (2 months full statements of all accounts used to qualify assets). Traditionally this is the documentation format with the best pricing.

Minimum/Reduced Documentation types:

SIVA – Stated income verified assets. This has become one of the most popular documentation formats, especially in cases where a fast escrow is needed. Borrower states his/her income but does not have to provide any documentation. Asset document is still needed, but only to show a set amount of reserves. This format is popular among hi-tech executives because of the variable components of their income – bonus, patent pay, ESPP, stock pay, etc. – most of which are highly variable and changes each year, so it’s difficult to document it without inviting unnecessary underwriter scrutiny. While it is technically one step down from FD, most A paper lenders have exceptions where if the borrower’s credit score is high enough, they will accept SIVA documentation and still offer FD pricing. Hey, you CAN have your cake and eat it too!

SISA – Stated income stated assets. You guessed it, in this format, the borrower simply states the income and asset on the loan application, and off it goes. No documentation needed! This makes everyone’s job easy – borrowers, agents, brokers, lenders. Again, this type of reduced documentation usually comes at a slight rate penalty, but with a high enough credit score, I have a number of lenders who can and will waive these penalties. So, for someone with good credit, they can zip through the entire loan process with a SISA submission, and still get the lowest rates on the market. The only thing to be careful about is that SISA guidelines are more conservative when it comes to the amount of money that you can borrow. So, as you approach the higher purchase price (over $1M), super-jumbo loans (loan amounts >$1M) and/or high CLTV (combined loan-to-value of over 85%), SISA loan types may place limitations that FD loan types don’t have.

NR – No Ratio. This reduced documentation type actually fits between SIVA and SIVA. In this program, you don’t provide any income information; you don’t even state a number on the loan application. However, you do provide asset documentation. As you know, in the loan business, cash is king. So, if you have good credit and enough reserves in the bank, underwriters may not care what your income is. So, instead of exaggerating and trying to state an income that is simply not true, it is much safer to go the route of No Ratio. In fact, stated income have been so abused by so many brokers that lenders are cracking down on stated loans and starting to look carefully at the income stated and job type. They will do a sanity check and if the numbers don’t make sense, the loan WILL NOT GO THROUGH. No Ratio is becoming popular because it allows the real estate team to close a transaction as fast as a stated loan, without the increasing risk with the underwriters. Even though the borrower normally has to a pay a small premium for a No Ratio loan, this is a small price to pay when compared to fraud and the risk of losing the escrow deposit when the loan doesn’t come through under another program type. Make sure you discuss with your financing advisor the pros/cons of using stated vs. no ratio on your loan program. As a realtor, you should also be sure that your financing partner is up to speed on the recent mortgage market developments, and not prone to forcing a loan through a stated program where it will ultimately fail and result in avoidable risk and agony to your hard-won transaction!

No Documentation Types:

NINA – No Income No Asset. In this documentation type, borrower provides no documentation, and leaves the income and asset sections blank on the loan application. In other words, borrower discloses absolutely no information about himself/herself except for his/her credit history. The one thing that lenders will verify verbally is employment. They will call the company if the borrower is a W2 employee, and will require a CPA letter if the borrower has been a self-employed individual for at least two years. Other than this, the entire loan decision is made on credit-worthiness. Obviously, pricing will be quite a bit higher than FD or the stated programs. Again, cash is king; so if you are putting enough money down, say at least 35-40% down payment, then your pricing would likely be similar to a FD loan!

ND – No Documentation, or No Income No Asset No Employment. This loan type is generally geared towards retired individuals, or borrowers in between jobs, or just starting out on their own business. Nothing is provided and nothing is considered by the lender except for the credit report. Normally, there is a ceiling on how high the loan amount can go, and how high the LTV (loan-to-value) can be, as these types of loans are perceived to be most risky for the lender. This generally will require a healthy down payment to ensure that the borrower has enough equity at stake and most likely will not default on the loan.

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Now, you ready for the quiz? In reality, the only person who needs to know all these formats cold is the mortgage specialist. A good mortgage specialist will know exactly which format, or formats, would best fit his/her client’s situation right after the initial discovery interview. S/he will use this information to help guide the pricing and initial preapproval process, and guide his/her clients to prepare the proper documentations on time. Neither the client nor the agent really need to know about the various loan types. What they need to be sure is that they have a mortgage specialist knowledgeable of all of the new and old documentation types so that the loan can be packaged in a way for minimum underwriting risk and maximum speed to close. Also, if you are an agent who tends to work with busy executives, or families with small children, it also helps to work with a mortgage specialist who is experienced enough to obtain a SIVA or SISA approvals without any pricing penalties to save your clients valuable time – who wants to spend time collecting statements and other documentation when they could be shopping for their next house?

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Tags: Buyer and seller tips · Documentation · Financing Process · For buyers · Full Documentation (FD) · Loan Application · Mortgages · No Documentation (ND) · No Income No Assets (NINA) · No Ratio (NR) · Preapproval · Real estate · Stated Income Stated Assets (SISA) · Stated Income Verified Assets (SIVA)