Disclosures
The Home-buying Program
The Afford Texas Home-buying Program (the "Program") helps prospective home-buyers obtain financial aid to buy a home through a guided, online process.
The Program is operated by Afford Lending, a licensed mortgage brokerage ("Afford", "we", "us", "our").
Participation in the Program is not a commitment to lend.
The Program is not a housing counseling program. To receive counseling, you must work with a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. The Program does not directly satisfy any home-buyer education requirement(s) of any Down Payment Assistance program.
Financial Aid
For the purposes of the Program, the term financial aid includes second mortgages, grants, and mortgage credit certificates (MCCs) offered by third-party Down Payment Assistance (DPA) programs.
Advertised financial aid amounts may include multiple sources of aid (e.g. second loan plus MCC).
Financial aid is provided by third-parties, such as local, state, or federal government agencies and/or non-profits. While we participate in said agencies' and organizations' programs, Afford Lending is not legally affiliated with or officially endorsed by any such agencies or organizations unless otherwise noted.
Certain DPA programs are structured as second mortgages. A second mortgage may:
- Allow you to buy a home with no or a very low down payment
- Allow you to use the money to cover some or all of your closing costs
- Require an additional monthly payment
- Place an additional lien on your property
- Increase the interest rate you pay on your first mortgage
- Impose certain restrictions on who is allowed to be on title
- Impose certain repayment conditions based on timely payment of your first mortgage
- Require repayment when you sell or refinance the property
Each program's terms are different. You should request an official Loan Estimate from a Loan Officer to see a detailed breakdown of the sources, amounts, and terms of any financial aid.
Qualification criteria
Due to the underwriting criteria of the DPA programs that we work with, there are certain minimum qualifying criteria for admission into the Program:
- Seeking to purchase a home (no refinances)
- Must intend to occupy property as primary residence
- Minimum credit score of 620
Fees
There are no fees for participating in the Program. If you do not end up qualifying for a loan you will not be charged any fees. If you are approved for a loan and decide not to move forward, you will not be charged any fees. If you are approved for and close on a loan, Afford Lending will charge customary fees associated with originating and processing your loan. These fees will be detailed on the Loan Estimate.
Credit inquiries
We strive to avoid unnecessary negative impacts on any of our clients' credit scores. The following details when we pull your credit, the type of credit we pull, and any impacts it may have on your score.
Pre-qualification/pre-approval: soft credit pull, no impact on score
Final approval: hard credit pull, minor temporary impact on score
Please note: all lenders require a hard credit pull for final approval. When a hard pull occurs, unless your phone number is on the federal Do Not Call registry, you may receive phone calls from other lenders. This occurs because the credit bureaus sell your data as something called a "trigger lead". Unfortunately, we cannot control how the credit bureaus treat your data, but please know that we do not sell any clients' data. We highly encourage all of our clients to register with the Do Not Call Registry early in the home-buying process to avoid this unfortunate form of spam.
Equal credit opportunity
We strive to comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and all other applicable fair housing regulations.
You do not need to apply to or participate in the Program to apply for credit with Afford Lending. If you would like to apply for a mortgage without participating in the Program, please contact us to request a Loan Application.
All applicants applying for credit from Afford Lending will never be discouraged on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, military status, marital status, age, or because you get public assistance. All information we request is voluntary, and will be kept confidential.
For more information on the ECOA, please visit: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/credit-discrimination#ecor