Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. unveiled what it called a model program for boosting homeownership among poor and moderate-income families.
The $10 million initiative, aimed at about 200 families in Milwaukee, calls for the insurer to share default risk with the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.
The program entails unusually flexible underwriting, MGIC said. For example, a borrower's entire down payment can come from a gift or a grant. And borrowers save on closing costs because of a reduced first-year mortgage insurance premium.
"We expect this shared-risk partnership to serve as a model to be duplicated nationwide," said Gordon Steinbach, executive vice president at MGIC.
