Freddie Mac updates: How Guide Bulletins work and how to read them

Written by Samantha SheltonNMLS 1647301Updated October 2026

Freddie Mac announces every change to its mortgage rules in a numbered Guide Bulletin, and that number is the only reliable way to separate a real rule change from a rumor. Bulletin 2026-10, issued August 5, 2026, is a working example: one document, nine separate topics, with effective dates running from immediate to February 3, 2027.

Bulletins amend the Freddie Mac Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide, the rulebook that decides which loans Freddie Mac will buy from your lender. Each one is numbered by year, dated, addressed to Sellers or Servicers, and published free to the public on Freddie Mac’s Guide site at guide.freddiemac.com.

Learn how Freddie Mac numbers and dates its updates, where to read them yourself, and which bulletins genuinely changed something a borrower can feel. For the wider view across agencies, start with our hub on industry updates and rules.

Key takeaways:

• Bulletins are numbered by year and sequence: Bulletin 2026-4 was issued April 1, 2026 and Bulletin 2026-10 on August 5, 2026, and Freddie Mac also uses letter designations such as Bulletin 2026-F, dated May 28, 2026, for single-subject announcements.
• “Effective immediately” is the default, not the rule: Bulletins state that all announced changes are effective immediately unless otherwise noted, so the exceptions carry the real dates. Bulletin 2026-10’s new accumulated-asset income rules apply to loans with settlement dates on or after February 3, 2027.
• Two 2026 bulletins moved borrower-facing numbers: Bulletin 2025-16 set the 2026 one-unit conforming loan limit at $832,750 for settlement dates on or after January 1, 2026, and Bulletin 2026-4 raised the maximum term on a manufactured-home cash-out refinance from 20 years to 30 years.

What is a Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin?

A Guide Bulletin is the instrument Freddie Mac uses to amend its Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide, the document that spells out which mortgages Freddie Mac will purchase and on what terms. Nothing in the Guide changes without a bulletin, and every bulletin names the sections it touches. Bulletin 2026-4 notes “Guide impact: Section 5703.8” beside its manufactured-housing change; Bulletin 2026-10 opens by stating that it is updating Guide Section 5307.1.

That matters because Freddie Mac is a buyer of loans, not a lender. Your lender writes the loan; Freddie Mac decides whether to buy it. When a bulletin widens what Freddie Mac will buy, lenders gain room to say yes to files they previously declined. Our explainer on how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stabilize the housing market covers that secondary-market mechanism in more detail.

One boundary worth setting early: Freddie Mac’s Guide governs conventional conforming loans. FHA¹, VA² and USDA loans run on their own agency handbooks and circulars, so a Freddie Mac bulletin never changes an FHA or VA requirement.

How Freddie Mac numbers and dates its bulletins

The format is a four-digit year, a hyphen, and an identifier. Numeric bulletins run sequentially through the year, and the header block carries the number, the issue date, and the audience. Bulletin 2025-16 posts as “Bulletin 2025-16 / Selling / Issued 12/03/2025 / TO: Freddie Mac Sellers / SUBJECT: SELLING UPDATES,” and Bulletin 2026-10 uses the identical block: “Bulletin 2026-10 / Selling / Issued 08/05/2026 / TO: Freddie Mac Sellers / SUBJECT: SELLING UPDATES.”

Three details of that header do real work:

• The Selling or Servicing tag: One numeric sequence covers both sides of the Guide, and the tag plus the “TO:” line tells you whether a bulletin governs how a loan is originated and sold or how it is serviced afterward. A servicing bulletin changes nothing about whether you qualify.
• The letter series: Alongside the numeric run, Freddie Mac issues letter-designated bulletins for standalone announcements. Bulletin 2026-F, dated May 28, 2026, carries one subject only: “2026 Area Median Income Limits.”
• The effective-date line: Selling bulletins carry a standing sentence. All changes are effective immediately unless otherwise noted. The summary table at the front lists the exceptions topic by topic, and that is where the dates that matter usually sit.

Fannie Mae runs a parallel system with different labels, publishing Selling Guide Announcements numbered SEL-YYYY-NN rather than bulletins. The two often move on the same topic within weeks without using the same words for it, which is why our companion post on Fannie Mae updates is worth reading alongside this one.

Where to read Freddie Mac bulletins yourself

Every bulletin has its own permanent page on Freddie Mac’s Guide site, addressed by number. Bulletin 2026-4 lives at guide.freddiemac.com/app/guide/bulletin/2026-4, and swapping the number in that path takes you to any other bulletin. Each page carries a Download list, and what sits in it is often worth more than the bulletin text itself:

• The Guide Updates Spreadsheet: An XLS listing which Guide sections the bulletin changed and which topic each change belongs to. Bulletin 2026-4 and Bulletin 2026-10 both offer one.
• Tracked revisions: Redlined Guide text showing the old language against the new, posted with some bulletins, Bulletin 2026-10’s page offers “August 5 Tracked Revisions” as a ZIP. This is how you confirm what a rule actually said before, rather than trusting a summary of it.

Freddie Mac also publishes plain-language summaries on its single-family site at sf.freddiemac.com, usually the same week a bulletin drops. If a claim about a Freddie Mac rule change cannot be traced to a bulletin number on the Guide site, treat it as unverified. That is the same habit that protects you on disclosure changes, covered in new mortgage disclosure rules.

Four Freddie Mac bulletins and what each one changed

Bulletin 2025-16 set the 2026 loan limits

Issued December 3, 2025, this selling bulletin published the 2026 conforming loan limit values, effective for mortgages with settlement dates on or after January 1, 2026. The one-unit baseline rose to $832,750 from $806,500, and the one-unit high-cost area limit rose to $1,249,125 from $1,209,750. Two-unit properties moved to $1,066,250 baseline and $1,599,375 in high-cost areas. The same bulletin also set an artificial intelligence governance framework for lenders effective March 3, 2026, which changes nothing a borrower fills out. Confirm the limit for any county against FHFA’s conforming loan limit values.

Bulletin 2026-4 extended manufactured-home cash-out terms

Issued April 1, 2026, this bulletin increased the maximum mortgage term for cash-out refinance mortgages secured by manufactured homes from 20 years to 30 years for Accept mortgages, amending Guide Section 5703.8. Freddie Mac updated Loan Product Advisor, its automated underwriting system, on April 12, 2026 to support the change. Stretching the same balance over 30 years instead of 20 lowers the monthly payment, which makes this the most borrower-visible item in the bulletin. The same document also simplified age-of-tax-return requirements and removed eligibility for mortgages with capitalized balances effective July 1, 2026.

Bulletin 2026-F reset the area median income limits

Issued May 28, 2026, this single-subject bulletin announced the 2026 area median income limits, effective June 13, 2026. FHFA supplies the AMI estimates to Freddie Mac, which uses them to test whether a borrower’s qualifying income meets Freddie Mac’s Home Possible mortgage requirements, Refi Possible eligibility, and the credit fee cap criteria in Guide Exhibit 19A. Loan Product Advisor and the public Home Possible Income & Property Eligibility tool were both updated June 13, 2026. For manually underwritten loans, the new limits apply to applications received on or after that date. This is the bulletin most likely to change whether you qualify for a low-down-payment program, and it happens every year.

Bulletin 2026-10 opened up accumulated assets as income

Issued August 5, 2026, this bulletin revised nine topics. The headline item updates Guide Section 5307.1 to align with industry standard that accumulated assets may be used as qualifying income, effective for mortgages with settlement dates on or after February 3, 2027, though sellers may implement immediately. Freddie Mac set a minimum net eligible asset amount of $30,000, required an Accept mortgage, permitted all occupancy types, limited it to purchase transactions and “no cash-out” refinances, and reduced the division factor used to convert assets into monthly income from 240 to 180, which produces a larger qualifying income from the same balance. It also removed the previous 80% loan-to-value ceiling on those loans. Elsewhere in the same bulletin, Freddie Mac relocated Guide language related to the Fair Housing Act effective August 12, 2026, moving existing text rather than changing any legal requirement.

What does Bulletin 2026-10 require before savings can count as income?

The asset-as-income rule comes with account tests that decide how much of a balance a lender may use. According to Freddie Mac Bulletin 2026-10, depository accounts and securities must be seasoned for 12 months before the Note Date unless the account was funded from eligible sources, and the bulletin removed the borrower age restriction that had applied to those accounts.

The bulletin then has the lender compare the current statement with the statement from 12 months earlier, per the Guide requirements section of Bulletin 2026-10:

• A drop of more than 20%: the depository accounts are not eligible to qualify the borrower, unless the decrease is documented as a transfer into securities or retirement accounts, per the bulletin.
• A rise of more than 20%: the eligible amount is limited to 120% of the account’s value 12 months before the current statement, unless the increase is documented as coming from a listed source, such as an eligible retirement account, a lump-sum distribution, or the sale of the borrower’s business or real property, according to the same section.
• Business sale proceeds: the money must sit in a depository or securities account the borrower owns and must have been held continuously for at least 90 days as of the current statement.
• Verification: third-party verification reports that meet Guide Section 5302.3(a) can document the accounts, and proceeds from selling the borrower’s real property become an eligible source for funding them.

Hypothetical example, not an offer. For example, take $360,000 in net eligible assets. Under the old division factor of 240, that balance works out to $1,500 a month of qualifying income; under the factor of 180 set by Bulletin 2026-10, the same $360,000 works out to $2,000 a month. Per the bulletin, the new factor applies to mortgages with settlement dates on or after February 3, 2027, though Sellers may implement it immediately, so a lender may still be using 240 on a file today. The asset rule also requires an Accept Mortgage, the Loan Product Advisor result explained in our guide to mortgage underwriting, and the rest of the file still has to fit, starting with your debt-to-income ratio.

Which credit scores can a lender use on a Freddie Mac loan?

Freddie Mac announced the credit score change in a letter bulletin rather than a numbered one. Bulletin 2026-D, issued April 22, 2026, states that the credit score models approved by FHFA are Classic FICO, VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T, and it lists the Equifax, Experian and TransUnion versions of VantageScore 4.0 as eligible for approved Sellers. Sellers not approved for VantageScore 4.0 had to keep using Classic FICO, and the bulletin said FICO Score 10T would follow at a later date.

FHFA widened the rollout on September 9, 2026. According to FHFA’s credit score page, the Enterprises expanded VantageScore 4.0 to all approved lenders that day and removed the requirement for prior written approval. The same page says lenders choose the model, must use the same model for every borrower on a loan, and that FICO 10T is not currently eligible for delivery. FHFA also reports that Classic FICO is expected to be retired at a future date, with no retirement date announced.

FHA handles the same question on its own track. HUD’s list of mortgagee letters includes Mortgagee Letter 2026-11, “Updated Minimum Decision Credit Score Methodology for the Implementation of Alternative Credit Scores,” so a Freddie Mac bulletin and an FHA letter can address one topic on different schedules. What a score means for your options is covered in what counts as a good credit score to buy a house and how your credit affects buying a house.

Which smaller bulletin items can show up in your loan file?

Several lines in the selling bulletins change how a lender counts a payment or an account. According to Bulletin 2026-4, issued April 1, 2026:

• Optional flood insurance: the premium does not have to be included in the monthly housing expense when coverage is not required under Guide Section 4703.3. The earlier text said to include it “when applicable.”
• Car leases: when the remaining lease balance is paid off or prepaid, the monthly lease payment may be excluded from the debt payment-to-income ratio. Our guide on improving your debt-to-income ratio covers other ways that ratio moves.
• Living trusts: accounts held in the name of a living trust count as owned by the borrower when the borrower is the trust’s settlor.
• Tax return age: the table in Section 5302.4 now refers to the Note year instead of specific calendar years, so that section will no longer be updated every year.

Bulletin 2025-16 added a value rule for homes with resale restrictions that end at foreclosure or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. For mortgages with application received dates on or after March 3, 2026, the value used for the loan-to-value ratio is the appraised value when the restriction is income-based; when it is not, a purchase uses the lesser of the appraised value or the purchase price. Per the bulletin, the appraisal must reflect the market value of the property without the resale restrictions.

Bulletin 2026-10 added a recordkeeping rule effective August 12, 2026: lenders must maintain and provide records including identity theft investigation documentation, video recordings and e-notary artifacts, according to the bulletin. If you sign with an electronic notary, those records are part of the file your lender keeps. Our guide to the home closing process walks through the signing itself.

What a Freddie Mac bulletin does not change

A bulletin sets the outer boundary of what Freddie Mac will buy. It does not set what your lender offers, and it does not set your rate.

• Lender overlays sit on top: Any lender may impose stricter requirements than the Guide. A bulletin loosening a Freddie Mac rule forces no lender to follow, which is why the same file gets different answers at different shops.
• Rate locks are lender terms: Lock periods, extension fees and float-down options are set by the lender you close with, not by Freddie Mac. No bulletin governs them.
• Pricing is a market, not a rule: Freddie Mac publishes the Primary Mortgage Market Survey every Thursday as the widely cited benchmark for average 30-year fixed pricing. Check Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the current reading instead of quoting a figure from an article, and see our guide to mortgage rates for what moves them.

Which Freddie Mac limits come from federal law instead of a bulletin?

Some limits sit above the Guide, where no bulletin can loosen them. Freddie Mac’s charter, at 12 U.S.C. 1454(a)(2), bars it from buying a conventional loan on a one- to four-unit home whose balance exceeds 80 per centum of the property’s value unless the part above 80 per centum is guaranteed or insured by a qualified insurer, the seller keeps a participation of at least 10 per centum, or the seller agrees to repurchase or replace the loan if it defaults. That statute is one reason mortgage insurance appears on conventional loans above 80% loan-to-value; see our guides to mortgage insurance and refinancing to remove it.

The conforming limit itself follows a formula in law. FHFA’s loan limit page says a permanent formula was set by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and that the 2026 limits were set under it. Per the FHFA release of November 25, 2025, house prices rose 3.26% on average between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, and limits rose in all but 32 counties or county equivalents. Freddie Mac’s bulletin only carried those numbers into the Guide, and Bulletin 2025-16 says Loan Product Advisor and Loan Selling Advisor were updated with them on December 7, 2025, ahead of the January 1 effective date. VA relayed the same announcement to its lenders in Circular 26-25-10, dated December 1, 2025 and set to be rescinded January 1, 2027, according to VA’s list of circulars.

FHFA rules also bind Freddie Mac’s mix of business: housing goals set what share of an Enterprise’s mortgage purchases must serve lower-income households, which shapes the loans Freddie Mac looks to buy. The 2026-2028 Enterprise Housing Goals rule, effective February 23, 2026, left the multifamily goals where they were: 61% low-income, 14% very low-income, and a 2% small multifamily low-income subgoal.

How to tell whether a bulletin affects your loan

Four questions answer it in under a minute.

• Selling or servicing? Servicing updates govern loans that already closed. If you are shopping or applying, selling bulletins are the only ones that touch you.
• Which effective date applies? Freddie Mac ties dates to different milestones by topic, settlement date, note date, or application received date. Bulletin 2026-F used application received date for manually underwritten loans; Bulletin 2026-10 used settlement date.
• Does it touch your program? Most bulletin content covers delivery mechanics, contracts and information security. The items that reach borrowers sit in credit underwriting, property eligibility, or a named program such as Home Possible, the subject of our guide to Freddie Mac’s Home Possible loans.
• Has a later bulletin superseded it? Bulletins stack, and a newer one can override a rule a still-posted article describes. Check for anything more recent on the same Guide section before relying on older text.

A loosened Freddie Mac rule still reaches borrowers unevenly, because each lender decides when and whether to adopt it. Our overview of low down payment mortgages shows how much the same borrower’s options can vary.

What Michigan buyers should know

The bulletin that matters most in Michigan is the annual income-limit reset, because it decides program eligibility county by county.

• Your income cap is a county number: Home Possible limits qualifying income to 80% of the area median income for the property’s location, and Bulletin 2026-F reset those limits effective June 13, 2026. Michigan has 83 counties, each with its own figure, so an income that qualifies in one county can fail in the next one over. Check the address, not the state, in Freddie Mac’s Home Possible Income & Property Eligibility tool.
• Down payment assistance stacks because the Guide allows it: Home Possible permits a maximum 97% loan-to-value and up to 105% total loan-to-value when the subordinate financing meets Freddie Mac’s Affordable Seconds definition. MSHDA’s MI 10K DPA Loan offers Michigan buyers up to $10,000 as an interest-free loan with no monthly payments, deferred until the first mortgage is paid off, the home is sold or refinanced, or it stops being owner-occupied. Whether a specific MSHDA product qualifies as an Affordable Second is a question to settle with your loan officer at application, not after.
• Manufactured housing comes up here: Bulletin 2026-4’s increase in the maximum cash-out refinance term from 20 to 30 years for Accept mortgages applies to manufactured homes anywhere, and Michigan has enough of that housing stock for it to reach real refinance conversations.

Which Michigan rules apply on top of a Freddie Mac bulletin?

A Freddie Mac bulletin sets national purchase rules. Michigan law decides who may arrange the loan, and Michigan programs add their own tests.

• State licensing: Michigan’s Mortgage Brokers, Lenders, and Servicers Licensing Act, Act 173 of 1987, is the state law for mortgage brokers, lenders and servicers, and the Department of Insurance and Financial Services runs the DIFS Locator for finding companies and professionals in financial services who do business in Michigan. Our guide to state-specific home buying regulations covers how other states differ.
• MSHDA’s own score and price limits: According to MSHDA, the MI Home Loan requires a minimum credit score of 640 and carries a statewide sales price limit of $566,355 after June 1, 2026. It is open statewide to first-time buyers, meaning anyone who has not owned a home in the previous three years, and to repeat buyers in targeted areas. A Freddie Mac bulletin does not move those state numbers. More Michigan options are in our guide to first-time home buyer grants and programs.
• A longer fair housing list: Bulletin 2026-10 relocated Freddie Mac’s Fair Housing Act language without changing any requirement. The federal act covers race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability, according to HUD. Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, at MCL 37.2502, also bars discrimination in a real estate transaction based on age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or marital status. Federal credit law adds its own list: the OCC’s fair lending page notes that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act bars discrimination based on marital status, age and receipt of public assistance income, among other grounds, and the Justice Department says it may sue under both laws in mortgage cases. Our guide to new fair housing laws tracks recent federal changes.

FAQ: Freddie Mac updates

Here are answers to common questions about Freddie Mac updates.

What are Freddie Mac’s affordable housing goals?

They are annual benchmarks FHFA sets for the share of loans Freddie Mac buys that serve targeted borrowers. Under FHFA’s 2026-2028 Enterprise Housing Goals final rule, published December 23, 2025, the single-family low-income home purchase goal is 21% of purchases, the very low-income home purchase goal is 3.5%, the low-income areas home purchase subgoal is 16%, and the low-income refinance goal is 21%. Those levels replaced the higher 2025-2027 benchmarks of 25%, 6% and 26%, so older articles quoting those numbers are out of date. Our overview of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s role in the housing market explains why the goals exist.

How does Freddie Mac affect my mortgage rate?

Indirectly, but meaningfully. Freddie Mac buys closed loans from lenders and packages them for investors, which returns capital to lenders so they can lend again. That secondary-market demand, plus the guarantee fees and credit fees Freddie Mac charges, feeds into what your lender can quote. Freddie Mac does not set your rate, and no Guide Bulletin publishes one. For what actually drives pricing week to week, see our guide to mortgage rates and the market.

What is Freddie Mac’s Home Possible loan?

Home Possible is Freddie Mac’s affordable conventional mortgage, allowing a 3% down payment, a maximum 97% loan-to-value on one-unit properties, and 105% total loan-to-value with Affordable Seconds. Qualifying income is limited to 80% of area median income for the property’s location. Eligible properties include one- to four-unit homes, condos, co-ops and planned-unit developments, with manufactured homes allowed under restrictions. On one-unit properties, mortgage insurance can be canceled after the loan balance drops below 80% of the home’s appraised value and the cancellation criteria are met, and MI coverage requirements are reduced for loan-to-value ratios above 90%. Read the full breakdown in our guide to Home Possible loans.

How do I know if a Freddie Mac rule change is real?

Ask for the bulletin number. Every Freddie Mac rule change is announced in a numbered, dated Guide Bulletin published on guide.freddiemac.com, and the bulletin names the Guide sections it amends. If a source describes a Freddie Mac change without a bulletin number, or cites a proposal rather than a published bulletin, it has not happened yet. The same verification habit applies across every agency, which is the point of our hub on industry updates and rules.

Is the conforming loan limit the same in every Michigan county?

Yes, for 2026. FHFA’s county file lists all 83 Michigan counties at the $832,750 one-unit baseline. FHA works differently: HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-23 sets the 2026 national low-cost floor at $541,287 for one unit. HUD’s FHA mortgage limits lookup, set to Michigan and CY2026, shows every county at that floor. Align’s loan limits lookup shows both.

What happens if income limits change while my Home Possible loan is in process?

Freddie Mac built in a carryover. Per Bulletin 2026-F, when a loan’s last Loan Product Advisor submission before June 13, 2026 was already a Home Possible mortgage that met the income limits, a resubmission uses the higher of the 2025 or 2026 limits at 80% of area median income. The bulletin notes that limits rose in most areas but fell in many. Refi Possible submissions use the 2026 limits at 100% of area median income.

Is Freddie Mac part of the federal government?

Not directly. Freddie Mac says Congress chartered it in 1970 to support the U.S. housing finance system. It has operated in conservatorship since September 6, 2008, according to FHFA, which as conservator holds the powers of Freddie Mac’s management, board and shareholders. FHFA itself is an independent agency created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, per FHFA’s About page.

Do Freddie Mac bulletin changes affect my closing timeline or disclosures?

No. Freddie Mac’s Guide sets what a loan must meet for Freddie Mac to buy it, so a bulletin can change what your lender asks for, not when your disclosures are due. Regulation Z sets those dates for every loan: 12 CFR 1026.19 gives your Loan Estimate three business days from your application, and the CFPB says the Closing Disclosure must reach you at least three business days before closing. Align’s Loan Estimate check shows what to check on yours.

The bottom line on Freddie Mac updates

Freddie Mac changes its rules through numbered Guide Bulletins, and the number plus the effective date is the whole story. Bulletin 2025-16 set the 2026 one-unit conforming limit at $832,750 for settlement dates on or after January 1, 2026. Bulletin 2026-4 raised the manufactured-home cash-out term from 20 to 30 years. Bulletin 2026-F reset the area median income limits that decide Home Possible eligibility effective June 13, 2026. Bulletin 2026-10 opened accumulated assets as qualifying income with a $30,000 minimum, effective for settlement dates on or after February 3, 2027. Everything else you read should trace back to a number like those.

If you’re ready to find out which of these changes your lender has actually adopted, talk to Align Lending. We’ll shop your scenario across our lender network and show you the numbers side by side. Call 248-506-5727 or start online.

Footnotes:

1. Align Lending is not acting on behalf of or at the direction of FHA or HUD. FHA programs are administered by the Federal Housing Administration and their requirements are set and changed independently of Freddie Mac’s Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide. Return to text.

2. Align Lending works with VA-approved lenders and is not endorsed or sponsored by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. VA loan requirements are published by the Department of Veterans Affairs and are not affected by Freddie Mac Guide Bulletins. Return to text.

Sources: Bulletin header format, “Selling” designation, issue date of 12/03/2025, 2026 conforming loan limit values effective for mortgages with settlement dates on or after January 1, 2026 ($832,750 and $1,249,125 for one-unit; $1,066,250 and $1,599,375 for two-unit; prior values of $806,500 and $1,209,750), the artificial intelligence and machine learning governance framework effective March 3, 2026, and revised Seller/Servicer insurance requirements effective June 8, 2026, Freddie Mac Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide Bulletin 2025-16, December 3, 2025. Standing effective-date sentence, increase in the maximum mortgage term for cash-out refinance mortgages secured by manufactured homes from 20 to 30 years for Accept mortgages with Guide impact at Section 5703.8, the April 12, 2026 Loan Product Advisor update, simplified age-of-tax-return requirements at Section 5302.4, removal of eligibility for mortgages with capitalized balances effective July 1, 2026, and the Guide Updates Spreadsheet available via the Download drop-down at guide.freddiemac.com/app/guide/bulletin/2026-4, Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2026-4, April 1, 2026. 2026 area median income limits effective June 13, 2026, the June 13, 2026 update to Loan Product Advisor and the Home Possible Income & Property Eligibility tool, FHFA as the source of the area median income estimates, application of the limits to Home Possible and Refi Possible eligibility and to Exhibit 19A credit fee cap criteria, and the application-received-date trigger for manually underwritten mortgages, Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2026-F, May 28, 2026. Nine revised topics, the update to Guide Section 5307.1 permitting accumulated assets as qualifying income effective for mortgages with settlement dates on or after February 3, 2027 with optional immediate implementation, the $30,000 minimum net eligible asset amount, the Accept mortgage requirement, the purchase and “no cash-out” refinance limitation, removal of the 80% loan-to-value ceiling, the reduction of the division factor from 240 to 180, and the relocation of Guide language related to the Fair Housing Act effective August 12, 2026, Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2026-10, August 5, 2026. Home Possible 3% down payment, maximum 97% loan-to-value, 105% total loan-to-value with Affordable Seconds, 97% HTLTV for one-unit properties, 80%-of-area-median-income qualifying limit, eligible property types, reduced mortgage insurance coverage above 90% loan-to-value, and mortgage insurance cancellation on one-unit properties after the balance drops below 80% of appraised value, Freddie Mac Home Possible product page. Single-family benchmark levels of 21.0% low-income home purchase, 3.5% very low-income home purchase, 16.0% low-income areas home purchase subgoal and 21.0% low-income refinance for 2026 through 2028, replacing the 2025-2027 levels of 25.0%, 6.0% and 26.0%, and the replacement of the two area-based subgoals with a single low-income areas home purchase subgoal, FHFA 2026-2028 Enterprise Housing Goals final rule, RIN 2590-AB59, 90 FR 59948, published December 23, 2025, effective February 23, 2026, amending 12 CFR 1282.12(c), (d), (f) and (g). MI 10K DPA Loan maximum of $10,000 as an interest-free loan with no monthly payments, deferred until payoff of the first mortgage, sale or refinance of the home, or the home ceasing to be owner-occupied, Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Freddie Mac Bulletin 2026-D, April 22, 2026, adding VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T as FHFA-approved credit score models alongside Classic FICO.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Agency guidelines, loan limits, income limits and program requirements change and vary by county, property and program; confirm current figures against the bulletin on guide.freddiemac.com and with your lender, and consult a qualified professional about your situation. Nothing here is a rate quote or an offer of credit. Align Lending is an independent Michigan mortgage broker, NMLS #2041154.

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