Countrywide Unveils Special Military Loans

Meanwhile, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. has introduced a mortgage program designed to support homeownership for enlisted U.S. military personnel with minimal funds for downpayments and closing costs.The U.S. Military Optimum Loan Program allows qualifying enlisted personnel to buy homes with little down and to use nontraditional income sources, the company said. The program's flexible guidelines allow for a minimum cash downpayment of $500, or 1% of the sales price; the inclusions of different types of military pay, such as flight or hazard pay, as income sources; and the use of income from a boarder for families who rent out a room during a family member's deployment. Countrywide said the guidelines also permit the use of supplemental undocumented income from borrowers who have taken second jobs for which the pay is not easily verified, and cosigning by a family member or close friend for a primary borrower buying a home during a deployment.