Rules to deter borrowers from abandoning loans

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage finance company, said Tuesday that it planned to change its guidelines to discourage homeowners from walking away from their loans.

Borrowers who say they intend to convert their present home into a rental or investment property while applying for a loan for a new home may be excluded from Fannie Mae financing, said Marianne Sullivan, a senior risk management executive at the company.

Often, they’ve been lying about their plans, she said.

In some communities, she said, “residents have decided that they want to take advantage of lower home prices to buy a new home, and they subsequently close and turn in the keys on the old home.”

New foreclosures in the U.S. rose to an all-time high in the fourth quarter in part because of homeowners who turned over properties to lenders. By next year, as many as 15 million U.S. households may owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Fannie Mae also introduced rules requiring borrowers who previously faced foreclosures to have credit scores above 680 and down payments of at least 10%.