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Interest Rate for 502 Direct Loans
The interest rate for April is 4.625 percent.
Unnumbered Letter (UNL) February 28 Set Asides for the Single Family Housing Direct Loan Program Fiscal Year 2011.
In a letter to the field offices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development national office informed its staff that the set asides in the 502 Direct program including those for self-help housing will be dissolved for the balance of FY11. See the letter, which expires on Feb. 29, 2012.
Unnumbered Letter (UNL) March 3 Establishing the 2011 Area Loan Limits.
USDA Rural Development is conducting its annual calculation of the maximum loan limit for the 502 Direct program. The loan limits will become effective on April 15. Contact your local USDA Rural Development office for an update on the loan limits. Read the instructions on the calculations in the UNL.
Administrative Notice (AN) 4552 Technical Assistance Grant Calculations and Grant Extension Requests.
This AN provides direction to calculate the grant technical assistance costs. Though it restates the procedure in using the value of a modest home, the AN does not contain the same formula for Method B as is found in 1944-I (Method B reads that it is calculated by taking the modest home minus the average SH home minus $1,000. The AN deleted the middle calculation of subtracting the average SH home.) RCAC has requested clarification on the change. Obtain a copy of the AN.
Administrative Notice (AN) 4553 Self-Help Technical Assistance Grants Administration.
This AN refreshes the pre-application and application checklists for the self-help housing program. It states that the review must be completed by USDA Rural Development within 30 days of a final document submittal to USDA Rural Development, and the technical assistance contractor is to receive the application for review from the state office and complete it within 15 days. RCAC encourages grantees, USDA Rural Development state offices and RCAC technical assistance contract staff to confirm the procedural steps for reviewing pre-applications, applications, and supplemental grant requests. RCAC will post the AN on its website, but you can obtain a copy directly.
The AN addresses the boiler plate letter of conditions. However, in two recent reapplications, the USDA Rural Development national office has issued instructions that the grantee must provide a plan for running the program without USDA Rural Development funding, including 502 Direct loans, and/or provide a plan for phasing out the program after this award. This planning is in anticipation that the Administration will be successful in its proposed budget for FY 12 to zero out the 523 program and to reduce the 502 Direct to a targeted program of $200 million. RCAC is developing boilerplate language that grantees can use to meet this condition, and we will get it out soon. In a recent meeting with Administrator Tammye Traviño, RCAC Chief Executive Officer Stanley Keasling suggested that the administrator convene a meeting of representative groups to discuss this requirement and the development of demonstration parameters that would allow grantees to adapt their programs to the new market realities envisioned in the new grant condition.
USDA Rural Development new website available.
Access USDA Rural Development's new website for all USDA regulations and guidelines.
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