Several years ago new rules were instituted to make the lending process more transparent. Like most regulations and laws, it was added to protect the consumer, but we have ended up with the very laws designed to protect consumers, doing actual harm to them instead.. We recently had a transaction in which the gal had great credit; she was buying much less than she could actually afford, but she didn’t have much money for a down payment. That was okay as we used the FHA Access program that allows for as little as a one half of a per cent for the down payment. The Realtor, (Guess who) wrote the contract with the seller paying a lot of the closing costs; and all parties were happy. Enter the law that Protects; and all of a sudden; the borrower was told that she had to pay an additional 2% to drop the interest rate so it would comply with the new regulations. This wouldn’t work as she had no funds; so the deal was restructured, the Realtor, Seller and Lender contributed to make the deal work. My bottom line is that before laws are passed; some consideration should be given for the unintended consequences that may happen.