Glossary

FHA Mortgage Defined
An FHA mortgage is a government mortgage underwritten to the Federal Housing Administration guidelines and insured by Ginnie Mae. It was originally designed for low to moderate income borrowers who had little down payment. The FHA mortgage would also allow borrowers with marginal credit to buy a house. It was [...]

FICO Score Defined
A FICO score is one of the three credit scores calculated by the three credit repositories to determine your credit risk. Even though you have three different credit scores, only one is used for things like qualifying and pricing. For pricing and all other things that involve a credit score, the [...]

Float Defined
A mortgage applicant with a floating rate is subject to the up and down movement in interest rates everyday until the float is corrected. It is said the applicant is at “interest rate risk”.
To correct being at float, one must lock the rate. Locking is separate from the application. [...]

Flood Certification Defined
Flood certification is used by the lender to find out if your property is in a flood zone. Companies that provide flood certifications or flood certs get the flood map information from FEMA. For this, they get paid a fee by you as part of your closing costs. It is [...]