Late Wednesday several lenders, including Taylor Bean & Whitaker, American Brokers Conduit and Option One, announced major changes to their Alt-A guidelines by increasing the minimum required credit scores and reducing the maximum loan to value ratios on most of their programs. Below is the announcement sent by one of the lenders to all its brokers:

Alt-A Underwriting Changes

Due to rapidly deteriorating market conditions, we will be making the following adjustments to our Alt-A underwriting guidelines:Minimum FICO score of 620 for Full Doc loans

Minimum FICO score of 620 for Full Doc loans
Minimum FICO score of 640 for Full Doc investment properties
Minimum FICO score of 640 for SIVA
Max LTV/CLTV 90% for SIVA Investment property
Minimum FICO score of 680 for SIVA Investment Property
Max CLTV of 95% for SIVA and SISA doc types
Minimum FICO score of 660 for SISA
Investment properties are not an eligible occupancy for SISA
NIQ and No Doc loans will require a minimum FICO score of 720
Max LTV/CLTV 50% for No Doc
Investment properties are not an eligible occupancy for NIQ
No Doc loans only allow for primary residency
SIVA, SISA, NIQ & No Doc loans not eligible in Ohio