by Calculated Risk on 11/25/2009 11:42:00 PM

From the WaPo: Fannie Mae to tighten lending standards (ht Ann, Pat, Tim)

Starting Dec. 12, the automated system that Fannie Mae uses to approve loans will reject borrowers who have at least a 20 percent down payment but whose credit scores fall below 620 out of 850. Previously, the cut-off was 580.

Also, for borrowers with a 20 percent down payment, no more than 45 percent of their gross monthly income can go toward paying debts. Fannie declined to disclose the previous threshold, except to say that it was higher. ...

Brian Faith, a Fannie Mae spokesman, said ... Loans to people with credit scores below 620 fell seriously behind at a rate approximately nine times higher than other loans purchased in the same period ...

This change will only impact a small percentage of Fannie Mae loans. I'm surprised they still allow debt payments to be as high as 45% of gross income - that seems a little loose and leaves the borrowers house poor.