If coming up with a large down payment has kept you from purchasing a home, consider an FHA Mortgage Loan. These loans may help you qualify for a home loan, with little or no down payment.

FHA's mortgage insurance programs help low and moderate income families become homeowners by lowering some of the costs of their mortgage loans. FHA mortgage insurance also enables lenders to originate loans to otherwise creditworthy borrowers and projects that might not be able to meet conventional underwriting requirements, by protecting the mortgage company against loan default on mortgages for properties that meet certain minimum requirements.

Several important features of an FHA Loan:

Down payment requirements can be low. In contrast to conventional mortgage products, which frequently require down payments of 10% or more of the purchase price of the home, single family mortgages insured by FHA make it possible to reduce down payments. This is because FHA insurance allows borrowers to finance a higher percentage of the value of their home purchase through their mortgage, in some cases.

Many closing costs can be financed. With most conventional loans, the borrower must pay, at the time of purchase, closing costs (the fees and charges associated with buying a home). This program allows the borrower to finance many of these charges, thus reducing the up front cost of buying a home. FHA mortgage insurance is not free: borrowers pay an up front insurance premium (which may be financed) at the time of purchase, as well as monthly premiums that are not financed, but instead are added to the regular mortgage payment.

Flexible qualifying guidelines. Lower income levels may not disqualify you from getting a loan.

Some fees are limited. FHA rules impose limits on some of the fees that can be charged on FHA loans.

HUD sets limits on the amount that may be insured. To make sure that its programs serve low and moderate income people, FHA sets limits on the dollar value of the mortgage loan.