Genworth US Mortgage Insurance (USMI) has launched a new set of rules, Simply Underwrite (SM), which enables lenders to provide simplified and expanded national mortgage underwriting guidelines.

Apart from offering one expanded national underwriting standard for all customers, the new rules will assist lenders to serve growing housing market while maintaining risk standard, allow lower credit scores and eliminate nearly all geographic restrictions.

Genworth USMI commercial operations senior vice president John Clifford said, "Simply Underwrite provides expanded guidelines that are easy for customers to understand and use, while maintaining prudent underwriting standards that allow us to appropriately manage risk."

It also allows loan originators and processors to swiftly determine if a loan is qualified for mortgage insurance coverage from Genworth USMI.

The new guidelines offer the same pricing, flexibility and ease of use to all Genworth USMI mortgage lender customers, from national mega-lenders to community banks and credit unions.

The new rules break various underwriting guidelines currently in use based on institution type, origination channel and other factors into one expanded national underwriting standard for loans.

Besides for attached housing units in Florida, the expanded guidelines also will remove geographic and property-type restrictions in all markets, and will be applied to both retail and third-party originators.