Mortgage loan limits

This study investigated the effects of programs dealing with risk-based pricing and increased mortgage loan limits on mortgage approval rates for low- and moderate-income households. The research performed for the study found that risk-based pricing policies did have a positive impact on the extension of residential mortgages to low- and moderate-income applicants, in that rejection rates associated with risk-based factors declined. The research performed also found that higher mortgage limit policies had a positive impact on the extension of residential mortgages to low- and moderate-income applicants, in that rejection rates associated with risk-based factors declined. Lastly, the research results indicated that higher mortgage limit policies had a greater positive impact than did risk-based pricing policies. Table of Contents Introduction Problem Statement Research Questions Study Purpose Significance of the Study Definitions of Terms Delimitations of the Study Overview of the Remainder of the Study Review of the Literature Systems Theory Systems Theory and the Mortgage Lending Model Mortgage Lending Markets Past Discrimination in Mortgage Lending Summary Methodology Research Design Research Hypotheses Variables and Operational Definitions Data Collection Data Analysis Methodological Limitations Summary Results Problems with the Data Restatement of the Research Questions Restatement of the Hypotheses Restatement of Operational Definitions Restatement of Data Analysis Procedures Research Results Summary, Discussion and Conclusions Discussion Conclusions Appendix: Data Tables Bibliography.

"The effort to improve accessibility to residential mortgage finance for low- and moderate-income individuals and families tends to be impeded by a system that has become entrenched. This existing system is an interlocking structure of public and private sector players that has developed rules and processes with which they are comfortable and which they are reluctant to change. The existing system for the extension of residential mortgages also involves both the primary and the secondary mortgage markets, as well as credit review and reporting agencies. The system in place was never intended to provide access to residential mortgages to low- and moderate-income persons except within the framework of specific governmental programs targeting such individuals. These specific programs involved direct public funding, government guaranteed repayment of loans extended by private sector lenders, or subsidies to developers and builders."