Acting U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Adrienne Todman (left) said Wednesday that the FHA is adding new translated mortgage documents to improve access for non-English speakers seeking mortgages. Photo by Tierney L. Cross/UPI
July 3 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday that it will begin making 19 single-family home mortgage documents available in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
The new translations will be added to the 40 translated mortgage documents already published.
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“At HUD, we are committed to ensuring homeownership is accessible to everyone who wants it, especially first-time homebuyers, and to do that we must ensure everyone has access to information about our programs. This common-sense action will help families realize their dreams of homeownership,” HUD Acting Secretary Adrienne Todman said in a statement. “Today, we take an important step toward a generation of more inclusive, diverse and equitable homeownership.”
The Federal Housing Administration maintains a Language Access Page to make mortgage information available to mortgage seekers, lenders, and other FHA program participants.
“We continue to work to remove language access barriers for borrowers seeking FHA-insured mortgages,” Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon said in a statement. “We believe it's critical that borrowers understand their options for buying a home and that existing borrowers can get help if they're having difficulty making their mortgage payments.”
She added that about 60 mortgage documents are currently translated into multiple languages and the FHA has a comprehensive collection of translation tools for mortgage seekers.