Released: September 24, 2011

20-percent rule for mortgage down payments unlikely in near future

Source: Kenneth R. Harney, The Washington Post

Remember the proposed requirement from six federal agencies that home buyers make down payments of at least 20 percent if they want the lowest interest rates? Remember the controversy that erupted over the plan last spring, when labor unions joined with bankers, civil rights groups, mortgage companies, real estate agents and consumer advocates to try to make sure it didn’t take effect? A bipartisan group of 39 senators and more than 250 Democrats and Republicans in the House even signed letters demanding that the agencies ditch the proposal on grounds that it would greatly harm a housing market in deep trouble.

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