New American Funding Review

New American Funding Refinance Ratings at a Glance

New American Funding offers a variety of mortgage options. In particular, it’s worth checking out if you’re self-employed or if you have a low credit score. As you read through this New American Funding review, you can learn more about how this particular platform works and if it can suit your financial situation.

New American Funding is a good choice for self-employed borrowers. It allows you to use bank statements to verify your income instead of trying to qualify with tax returns, W-2s or pay stubs, which you might not have with a fluctuating or lump-sum income.

New American Funding is also an excellent lender for first-time home buyers. You can opt for an FHA, USDA or VA loan. New American Funding also has educational resources to help first-timers understand the mortgage process. 

New American Funding may also be a good fit for senior homeowners looking for a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage allows you to take advantage of the equity you’ve built up in your home. It’s not for everyone but it’s worth considering if you’ve built up significant equity in your home but have concerns about your income in retirement. 

New American Funding’s mortgage products fall into 3 categories: loans to purchase a home, loans to refinance a home and products to access your home’s equity. 

Purchase Loans

With New American Funding, you can choose from several options if you’re looking to buy a home. 

• Conventional mortgages aren’t insured by any government agency. These loans can be fixed-rate or adjustable-rate loans. A fixed-rate mortgage keeps the same interest rate for the entire loan term. An adjustable-rate mortgage’s interest rate can change. 
• Government-backed mortgages include FHA loans, VA loans and USDA loans — these types of mortgages are all insured by federal government agencies. These loans have low or no down payment requirements and allow lower credit scores than conventional mortgages. 
• Non-qualified (Non-QM) mortgages have more flexible requirements, making them a good fit for self-employed and small business owners. You can qualify using 1 year of personal and business tax returns, bank statements or by showing you have enough assets to cover your mortgage payments. 
• I CAN mortgages allow you to choose your mortgage term from 8 to 30 years. You can tailor your mortgage to your budget and your circumstances. For example, if you’re retiring in 10 years, you might want a 10-year mortgage term so your loan is paid off when you retire.

Refinance Loans

New American Funding also offers a range of options if you want to refinance. These include:

• Cash-out refinances allow you to take out a new home loan that’s for more than the amount you owe. In other words, you’ll walk away from the transaction with cash. The amount of cash you can take out is based on the equity in your home. Your home equity is the difference between your home’s value and how much you owe. If your home is worth $200,000 and you owe $100,000 on your mortgage, you have $100,000 in equity. You can borrow a percentage of that by refinancing. 

Let’s say you wanted to make $25,000 in renovations. You might refinance for $125,000 so you can use $25,000 of your home equity. 

• Rate and term refinances allow you to refinance your interest rate or the length of time you’re paying on your mortgage (your term). You can shorten or lengthen your term. You could also refinance if interest rates have dropped since you took out your mortgage. 
• Special refinance programs allow you to refinance for better terms if you have an FHA or VA mortgage. 

Home Equity Products

New American Funding can help you take advantage of the equity you’ve built up in your home two types of home equity products.

• Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) provide you with a credit line based on a percentage of your home’s equity. It’s a bit like a credit card because you can borrow as much of your credit line as you need when you need it. HELOCs have a draw period, which is when you can withdraw funds. You typically need to make at least interest-only payments during your draw period. After your draw period, you have a repayment period. During your repayment period, you can’t borrow any more funds, and you’re required to pay back anything you’ve borrowed. 
• Reverse mortgages are for homeowners age 62 or older. These products allow you to borrow against your home’s equity. You no longer have to make mortgage payments and you can receive a portion of your home’s equity as a lump sum, monthly payments, as a credit line or as a combination of monthly payments and a credit line. It’s important to consult with an independent financial professional before proceeding with a reverse mortgage to make sure it’s a good option for you. 

New American Funding follows a standard closing process, meaning the time to close will depend on the client and loan type. You can choose to start with a prequalification or preapproval. Prequalification doesn’t involve verifying your income. Preapproval means underwriters have reviewed your income and assets and are reasonably confident you will qualify for a home loan.  

Once you find your home and your offer has been accepted, you complete a formal loan application. Underwriters review your documentation, confirm everything is correct and decide whether you need approval. Next, the loan is funded and you set a time to sign your closing documents. At closing, you sign your loan documents and pay any funds that are due. 

Your credit score is a 3-digit number that lenders use to get a sense of how you’ve handled credit and debt in the past. It’s based on factors like:

• Whether you pay your credit card bills on time
• How long you’ve had your credit accounts open
• How many credit accounts you have
• How much of your available credit has been used 

Lenders have minimum credit score requirements. If you don’t have the minimum credit score, you may need to take steps to improve your score before you qualify for a mortgage. 

New American Funding has different credit score requirements for each type of mortgage, noting that a score of around 640 is sufficient for more first-time home buyer programs. At the same time, certain programs may require a higher credit score, especially conventional mortgages.

Preapproval Documents

New American Funding recommends having the following documents ready for preapproval: 

• 2 months of bank statements for all accounts
• 2 months of pay stubs
• 2 years of tax returns
• 2 years of W-2s

If you’re using gift funds for your down payment, you’ll need a letter from the individual giving you the gift to confirm the funds were a gift. 

New American Funding’s customer care representatives are available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT. You can reach them by phone at 800-893-5304 and by email at customercare@nafinc.com. 

During the loan process, you’ll work with a dedicated loan officer. That loan officer can answer any questions you have along the way. Once you have your mortgage in place, New American Funding also allows you to manage your loan on its website. It also has a mobile app you can use to manage your account, which is available in the Apple App and Google Play stores.

If you have unique financial circumstances or if you want a one-stop shop for a variety of home loans, New American Funding could be the right fit for you. As with any significant financial investment, It’s a good idea to contact a few of the best mortgage companies to see how they compare and what you qualify for. 

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