Rural development loans are a great option for borrowers looking for 100% financing. The USDA offers programs to homeowners located in designated rural areas with low-to-moderate household income. If you are looking for a home in a rural area, the USDA Loan Program offers low- and moderate-income borrowers more affordable housing finance options with little or no down payment or out-of-pocket costs.

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USDA Guaranteed Loan Program

The Guaranteed Loan Program assists in providing low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own adequate, modest, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings as their primary residence in eligible rural areas. Eligible applicants may purchase, build, rehabilitate, improve or relocate a dwelling in an eligible rural area with 100% financing. The program extends 100% loans to eligible rural homebuyers – so no money down for those who qualify!

Who may apply for this program?
Applicants must:

• Meet income-eligibility (cannot exceed 115% of median household income)
• Agree to personally occupy the dwelling as their primary residence
• Be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. non-citizen national or Qualified Alien
• 30-year fixed rate
• No down payment required
• No cash reserves needed
• Closing costs may be financed on some transactions
• Seller contributions allowed
• 620+ FICO
• Available on single- and multi-wide, condos and PUDs

What is an eligible rural area?

Utilizing this USDA’s Eligibility Site you can enter a specific address for determination or just search the map to review general eligible areas.

USDA Streamline Refinance

The USDA Streamlined Assist Program is a newly expanded refinance loan product with relaxed eligibility requirements and dramatically reduced fees for existing USDA borrowers. Best of all, the application process is simple.

What is the USDA Streamlined Assist Program?

The USDA Streamlined Assist Program is a mortgage refinancing option designed to lower home loan interest rates and potentially save current USDA borrowers money.* Many borrowers who were not eligible for the previous versions of this loan product, or who found its fee structure prohibitive, will be pleased to find they may now be eligible and fees are being dramatically reduced.

*By refinancing your existing loan, your total finance charges may be higher over the life of the loan.

Eligibility Requirements

The USDA Streamline Assist loan is now available in all 50 states. The streamline assist has been successful and expanding over the years. The program has gradually expanded from 19 states to 34 states to finally include all 50 states. The program has eligibility requirements to qualify:

• The property is your primary residence
• Your loan is a USDA loan
• Your USDA loan is at least one year old
• You need to provide documentation for your income and debt-to-income ratio (DTI) (and both are approved)
• You have made on time payments for your loan for the last six months
• Your credit is approved

Why a USDA Streamlined Assist loan?

The main benefit is that refinancing your USDA loan through the Streamlined Assist loan can save you money on your monthly bills. The loan requires a minimum monthly payment savings of $50 ($600 per year) to qualify.

There are some other benefits to using the Streamline Refinance program:

Typically no appraisal required. In most cases, you already have a USDA loan and went through the process, so when you use this refinancing program, you usually don’t need to get another appraisal. That keeps the program simpler and quicker for you to refinance.
No inspection required. You already own the home and have gone through the loan approval process. You already know what your house is like, so for this refinancing program, you don’t have to worry about paying for an official inspection.
Increased credit flexibility. For more USDA refinancing options, you need a credit score of 640 to be able to refinance. With the Streamline Refinance, there is potential for more credit flexibility. Depending on your situation, you may not need a credit check to qualify for the refinance.

Another important thing to note is there are two USDA Streamline Refinance programs that vary slightly and can offer you different benefits: the Standard Streamline and Streamline-Assist.

Standard Streamline

• Can be harder to qualify for since it requires a credit check and adheres to credit guidelines
• No appraisal or inspection required
• Closing costs can be rolled into the loan
• Only requires 6 months of on-time payments on the USDA loan

Streamline-Assist

• The more popular USDA Streamline option
• Only applies to USDA Direct Home Loans or USDA Guaranteed Home Loans
• Requires 12 months of on-time payments on your USDA loan
• No credit check and increased credit flexibility for qualifying
  Income checks aren’t required

More About the Streamline Refinance Program

The Streamlined Assist Refinance product is a new USDA loan program modeled after a pilot product launched in 2012 for 34 states. That program was not accessible to all borrowers because it contained a requirement that the interest rate be reduced by a minimum of 1%. The new program no longer requires the 1% improvement. Instead, for greater flexibility, it requires a tangible benefit to the borrower of $50/month ($600/year) or a greater reduction in principal and interest, including the annual guarantee fee.

The new product is available nationally and is available to anyone with a USDA loan. On an average loan of $165,000, eligible customers could save an extra $2,877 in upfront fees