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FHA

Insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The most forgiving credit door, at the cost of insurance that often never leaves.

Who it is for

A buyer with a small down payment, a short or bruised credit history, or a debt-to-income ratio that a conventional underwriter would not take.

Decided at

  • Day one
  • 0–3 yr
  • 3–7 yr
  • 7–15 yr
  • 15–30 yr

What separates it from its nearest neighbour: Its mortgage insurance is charged twice - once upfront and again every month - and on the common version it runs for the life of the loan.

The published rules

These are programme rules, not Plinth policy. Where a figure is reset each year — conforming limits, FHA county limits, the USDA fee, the VA fee table — the mechanism is described and the number is not, because a stale number on a lending page is worse than no number.

Down payment
3.5% with a credit score of 580 or above. Between 500 and 579 the minimum is 10%. Those are the FHA thresholds; individual lenders commonly set higher ones.
Upfront premium
An upfront mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% of the base loan amount. It is normally financed into the loan rather than paid in cash, which means you pay interest on it for as long as you keep the loan.
Annual premium
An annual MIP is collected monthly. On a 30-year loan with less than 10% down it is charged for the life of the loan. With 10% or more down it ends after 11 years. Getting to 20% equity does not remove it - only refinancing out of FHA does.
Loan limits
FHA sets county-by-county limits each year, with a national floor and a national ceiling. A county at the floor and a county at the ceiling are very different markets.
The property
The appraisal is an FHA appraisal, and the house has to meet HUD minimum property requirements. Peeling paint on a pre-1978 house, a missing handrail or a failed roof can stop the file.
A new house under construction at dusk, its concrete foundation and lower plinth course visible below the timber frame.
FHA appraisals are FHA appraisals. The house has to meet HUD minimum property requirements before the file moves.

What it will not do

  • It is not the cheapest loan for a strong credit profile. Compare it against a conventional loan with PMI before assuming it wins.
  • The life-of-loan insurance means the exit is a refinance, and a refinance depends on rates you cannot see today.
  • It is for a home you will live in. It is not an investment property programme.

What to find out before you go further

  1. 01Your credit score against the 580 and 500 thresholds, and against your lender’s own overlay.
  2. 02Whether you can reach 10% down, which changes the insurance from permanent to 11 years.
  3. 03The FHA limit in your county this year.

No obligation, and no transmission

Ask about FHA

A broker needs six things to say anything useful. This form asks for exactly those and nothing else — no date of birth, no Social Security number, no credit pull.

This form does not send anything. It validates what you type and then stops. Nothing is stored, nothing is transmitted, no cookie is set and nobody will call you. The demonstration is the point — on a real build one function call inLeadForm.astro would hand this to a CRM.

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