15-50: Borrowers with Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program Paid to the Servicer are Ineligible

09/21/2015

HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program assists low-income, first-time homebuyers in purchasing homes. The program is administered by participating local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) which provide monthly housing assistance payments (HAPs) to help pay for homeownership expenses. At their discretion, PHAs may provide the HAP to the borrower or directly to the Servicer.   

While PennyMac considers the income derived from the HAP acceptable, due to operational constraints, transactions involving HAPs paid directly to the Servicer are ineligible for purchase by PennyMac.  This update is effective immediately.

Borrowers with HAPs paid directly to the borrower will continue to remain eligible for purchase by PennyMac.  PennyMac is actively working on updating its systems to allow for HAPs paid directly to the Servicer; once the updates are complete, we will release an announcement indicating they are once again eligible.

Please contact your Sales Representative with any questions.