Credit-Impaired Skeptical of Lenders

WASHINGTON — Many credit-impaired borrowers are dissatisfied with their mortgages and their lenders, according to this year’s Fannie Mae National Housing Survey, released Thursday.

The 10th annual survey polled 1,001 randomly selected adults in May, of which 303 were credit-impaired homeowners and another 610 were homeowners without impaired credit. Only 43% of the impaired homeowners said their lender had a solid reputation, and 11% said their lender offered them the best interest rate for which they qualified — a percentage three times lower than for all the homeowners surveyed.

Forty-four percent of the credit-impaired homeowners said they would be “very” or “fairly” likely to use the same lender for another mortgage, compared with 63% of all homeowners. Also, only 34% of the credit-impaireds said they were “confident” they got the best mortgage deal possible, compared with 68% of all borrowers.

“The results raise several issues for the entire mortgage industry to address,” Franklin D. Raines, chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie, said in a press statement. “The central question is whether all consumers are enjoying their basic right to the lowest-cost mortgage for which they can qualify.

“Clearly, the housing finance system is working extremely well for millions of Americans. But as the survey found, not for every American.”

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