A-paper

This article is about the type of mortgage loan. For the series of paper sizes, see A series.

In the mortgage industry of the United States, A-paper is a term to describe a mortgage loan (or a Prime loan)^[1] for which the asset and borrower meet the following criteria:

• In the United States, the borrower has a credit score of 680 or higher
• The borrower fully documents their income and assets
• The borrower's debt to income ratio does not exceed 35%
• The borrower retains 2 months of mortgage payments in reserves after closing
• The borrower injects at least 20% equity

Furthermore, there are some criteria that are guiding factors, such as the borrower having stability in the line of work and/or living in the same property for two or more years.^[2]

See also

• Alt-A paper
• Subprime lending