Rural Utilities Service July 11, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule implements a change in the regulations for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Housing Service (RHS) Section 502 Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) (also referred to as ``Agency'') by requiring an annual fee for all loan obligations. This action is taken to implement authorities granted the Secretary of the USDA, in Sec. 102 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 to collect from the lender an annual fee not to exceed 0.5 percent of the outstanding principal balance of the loan for the life of the loan. The primary intent of the annual fee is to make the SFHGLP subsidy neutral when used in conjunction with the one- time up-front guarantee fee, thus eliminating the need for taxpayer support of the program at its current loan level.