FHA Home Financing Guideline's Tightened?

The NYTimes, in January, reported on the new lending standards required for loans insured by the FHA. If you believe loans are now more difficult to get, read on.

As of December, the F.H.A. was insuring 5.8 million single-family residences that had a total loan balance of $750 billion. More than half a million of the loans were seriously delinquent and heading toward foreclosure.

Many of these troubled loans were made in 2007 and 2008 as the market was plunging. Last fall, the agency said its cash reserves had tumbled to 0.5 percent of its loans outstanding, far below the 2 percent mandated by Congress.