“People are focused on the changes to the fees rather than the resulting fees,” said Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, North Carolina-based nonprofit research and policy organization.
Calhoun noted that borrowers making low down payments face even higher costs, because they’re required to pay for private mortgage insurance if their down payments amount to less than 20% of the value of their home purchase — a fact Republicans have ignored.
“They’re tossing things up against the wall and when you dig into it, there’s no there there,” Calhoun said. “In fact, if anything, it’s striking how much more lower-credit-score and lower-down-payment loans pay than others.”
