Q-A few weeks ago, you had a question from a homeowner who wanted to refinance a mortgage to reduce the monthly payments. As I recall, he was an airline pilot whose salary had been cut and, although he was current on his loan payments, he couldn't qualify for a refinanced mortgage because the lower payments would take 34 percent of his income.

Q-Recently, you said VA and FHA home buyers are now allowed to pay their own loan charges, just like with conventional mortgages. That is correct, but both FHA and VA mortgages have non-recurring closing costs which the borrower is not allowed to pay.

A-The purpose of the FHA and VA loan discount fee is to cover the lender's cost of originating the mortgage. When the FHA and VA began allowing borrowers to pay their own loan fees a few years ago (sellers previously had to pay them), it was to make FHA and VA loans competitive with conventional mortgages.