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Staff desk

The files on the desk

Desk clock
Sep 10, 2026, 11:24 AM

Files open

10

Loan volume

$3.5M

Docs still out

4

Over DTI cap

3/10

Locks expiring

1

Not touched yet

1

Running against a clock

What needs a decision today

11
  • LOCKLucía Pineda Arriagaexpires in 4d · 6.766%
  • NOT ELIGIBLEJavier Villalobos MenaFHA does not apply as the file stands
  • HARD CAPRosalía Ocampo TrejoDTI 50.3% against a 41% cap
  • DTI CAPJavier Villalobos MenaDTI 48.2% against a 47% cap
  • DTI CAPEsteban Núñez CorderoDTI 41.3% against a 41% cap
  • DOCSRosalía Ocampo Trejo2 docs requested 2d ago, still out
5 more below the fold, in the same order.
The queue

Files on the desk

10

Waiting for a file from the comparator

Ordered by urgency: what expires first, then what a regulation blocks, then what is waiting on paper. The live file always sits on top.

File

Lucía Pineda Arriaga

4 days leftRate locked
Conventional80% LTV$273,600Aug 15, 2026, 11:24 AM

The rate is held until the lock expires. After that date it goes back to market.

Progress4 of 4

What the buyer chose

Bank of America

Conventional
LEI
B4TYDEB6GKMZO031MB27
Estimated rate
6.766%
Estimated monthly payment
$3,050.13
Estimated APR
6.766%
Estimated total cost at your horizon
$619,133
What this lender actually charged (median)
Not reported
Chosen on
Aug 13, 2026
Chosen by
Buyer

Our estimate, anchored to public data. It is not an offer: no lender publishes its pricing, and none has been asked for one. These are the figures that were on screen when the offer was chosen.

Act on this file

What the desk can do

Seeded file

Request a document

Issue the eligibility letter

What the rules support

$483,000

Purchase price

Loan amount$386,400

Solved by bisection against this program’s own DTI cap, because the mortgage insurance depends on the LTV, which depends on the amount, which depends on the price. The equation does not come apart.

Issued Aug 15, 2026 for up to $483,000. Good for 90 days.

Lock the rate

How long
Discount points

Rate being locked

6.766%

Locked at 6.766% through Sep 14, 2026.

Write in the log

The log does not get edited. A correction is another line.

What the buyer filled in

Borrower

Name on the file
Lucía Pineda Arriaga
File number
MG-260813-4371
County
Cook County, IL 17031
Purchase price
$342,000
Down payment
$68,400 · 20.0%
Loan amount
$273,600
Term
15 years
Credit score
776
Gross monthly income
$9,600.00
Monthly debts
$540.00
How the income comes in
Pension plus W-2
Household
2 people · 2 borrowers
First-time buyer
No
Years they plan to stay
20 years

No Social Security number on this file · It is never asked for, not in the comparator and not here. Nothing on this screen needs one, and a file that cannot leak an SSN is worth more than one that promises to protect it.

The paper on this file

Documents

In
  • Photo IDUploaded Aug 15, 2026 · id-illinois.jpg
    Uploaded
  • Letter of explanationUploaded Aug 15, 2026 · carta-pension.pdf
    Uploaded
Oldest request: Aug 14, 2026
Every hand that touched it

File log

  1. Staff

    Rate locked on the Conventional file at 6.766% for 30 days. After that date it goes back to market.

  2. Staff

    Eligibility letter issued for Conventional: published rules support up to $483,000. Not an approval, and not an offer from any lender.

  3. Buyer

    Uploaded: Letter of explanation — carta-pension.pdf

  4. Buyer

    Uploaded: Photo ID — id-illinois.jpg

  5. Staff

    Requested: Letter of explanation. Pension income needs an award letter and evidence it continues for three years.

  6. Staff

    Requested: Photo ID. To confirm the name on the file matches the name that goes on the note.

  7. Buyer

    Offer chosen: Bank of America — Conventional. Estimated total cost over 20 years: $619,133. Total cost at the horizon is what decided it, not the rate. That figure is our estimate, not an offer from that lender.

  8. Buyer

    File opened from the comparator: Conventional on a $342,000 home, compared over a 20-year holding period.

Recomputed, not stored

The engine’s figures

Estimated rate
6.766%
LTV
80%
Monthly payment
$3,050.13

What is inside the payment

Principal and interest$2,423.54
Property tax$511.00
Homeowner’s insurance$115.58
Mortgage insurance
—
Estimated APR
6.766%
Total cost at their horizon
$619,133

What makes up that total

Principal and interest$436,237
Property tax$91,981
Homeowner’s insurance$20,805
LLPA / credit fees$1,710
Down payment$68,400
Conforming limit, this county
$832,750

Closing costs

$6,684Median

p10 $3,560the middle halfp90 $13,218

Projected from the national median with the shape of the one counted cohort. A projection, not a measurement.

Each program, its own rule

DTI against its own cap

DTI on this file37.4%
Cap for this program 50%
Soft capRoom left$1,209.87 a month of extra debt before this file touches its cap.

Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02: a DU casefile reaches 50%. It is the highest ceiling in the catalogue, which is the opposite of what most people assume.

Conditions, with the rule cited

What the engine flagged

Provenance: Verified in a primary source
  • No mortgage insurance on this file. Either the equity is enough or the program does not charge one.

  • This profile carries 0.625 pts of loan-level price adjustments — $1,710 — charged in price, not shaved off the rate. It is the single biggest reason the advertised rate is not the rate received.

    Fannie Mae LLPA Matrix / Freddie Mac Exhibit 19.

  • There is no published observation for this exact LTV and score segment, so the rate is anchored to the general 30-year series (OBMMIC30YF) instead. The segment spread is not invented.

  • No appraisal on the file yet, so the LTV is computed on the price. On a purchase the value is the lower of price and appraisal, so a low appraisal would raise the LTV and could move the band.

Where the house creates value

FHA files that come out cheaper conventional — at their own horizon

What that is worth to those buyers$25,621
FHA files that come out cheaper conventional — at their own horizon
FileDifference
MG-260905-0970$13,479cheaper on conventional
MG-260831-7135$12,142cheaper on conventional
MG-260909-3124−$16,929cheaper on FHA
MG-260906-2898−$25,732cheaper on FHA
MG-260908-6098—Not comparable
How this table is orderedRows are ordered by the size of the difference, largest first, and both directions are shown. No lender is named here and none is favoured: this compares two sets of published rules over the horizon the buyer set.

2 of 4 FHA files on the desk come out cheaper conventional at their own horizon.

Why it comes out this way

Conventional PMI has a death date written into federal law: it comes off automatically at 78% of the original value, and it can be cancelled on request at 80%. FHA’s annual MIP, on a loan above 90% LTV, lasts the whole thirty years — the only way out is a refinance. Over four years that hardly matters and FHA’s cheaper rate wins. Over fifteen it is the whole difference.

  • HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05, Appendix 1.0 — annual MIP and how long it lasts by LTV.
  • Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, 12 U.S.C. 4902 — automatic termination at 78% of original value, cancellation on request at 80%.

What this is not It is not advice to switch, and it is not an offer. It is an estimate that says a conversation is worth having before the rate is locked — and on a file where FHA wins, the same arithmetic says leave it alone.