Do FHA loans come with any extra charges I should know about?

It’s funny you asked because FHA loans do tend to come with a couple of footnotes. So here’s the thing:

• You need to pay a monthly insurance premium (MIP) no matter how big your down payment is
• MIP is usually rolled into your APR as part of your monthly payment so you’ll barely notice it
• You also need to pay an Upfront Funding Fee that can be rolled into your loan principal – or you can pay in cash

If you’re wondering what these extra fees are for, they’re to help with that government guarantee we talked about earlier – so the lender can stay cool as a cucumber knowing they’re covered in case you can’t make your payments. The fees are a way for you to split the bill with U.S. taxpayers (like yourself!).