Federal Housing Finance Agency Adds New 0.5% Fee to Refinance Mortgages Effective September 1st

On Thursday, August 13th, 2020, The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), along with the two governmental sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that effective September 1^st, that any refinance mortgage loan sold Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will include a new adverse-market refinance fee of 0.5%. This fee will be assessed for both cash-out and no-cash-out refinancing. This provision and fee will not apply to new home loan originations. A letter from the two governmental sponsored agencies explains the reason for the new fees. It says in part “In light of market and economic uncertainty resulting in higher risk and costs incurred by Fannie Mae, we are implementing a new loan-level price adjustment.” It goes onto say that “As a result of risk management and loss forecasting precipitated by COVID-19 related economic and market uncertainty, we are introducing a new Market Condition Credit Fee.”