Home > Partner Resources > New Home Industry > Benefits of Being an ENERGY STAR Lender

Energy efficient homes that earn the ENERGY STAR are good for lenders, builders, homeowners and the environment. As a lender, you have the opportunity to see immediate benefits by writing more loans for more money, with less risk. You can also team with local builders and utilities to become leaders in the community and promote better products and a cleaner environment. Become an ENERGY STAR Lender, and realize the advantages of selling energy efficiency.

Write Larger Loans

Through energy-efficient mortgages (EEM) homebuyers can use the projected energy cost savings of their ENERGY STAR home to qualify for larger mortgages.

  • Fannie Mae guidelines allow income to be increased by the projected energy cost savings of an ENERGY STAR qualified new home. The enhanced qualifying ratios yielded by these savings can result in larger loans.
  • Fannie Mae guidelines also adjust the value of the home to reflect the value of the energy efficiency features.
  • By writing a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Housing Authority (FHA) EEM, you may be able to increase your customers' buying power by as much as $8,000.
  • And when writing a Veterans Administration (VA) EEM, you may be able to increase your customers' buying power by as much as $6,000.

Write More Loans

Offering EEMs can result in the expansion of your building-partner clientele. The ENERGY STAR program has been incredibly successful, enrolling more than 5,800 builders who collectively have built more than 860,000 ENERGY STAR qualified new homes.

Many utilities offer rebates and other perks to promote energy-efficient building practices. By working in conjunction with participating utilities, lenders can significantly increase the number of Energy Efficient Mortgages they write. Similarly, lenders stand to benefit from the broad-based advertising campaigns many utilities sponsor. Other building industry professionals including builders, product manufacturers, trade magazines and raters are also willing to collaborate in spreading the ENERGY STAR message. Find other ENERGY STAR "champions" in your area by using the Partner Locator.

Demonstrate Environmental Leadership

Co-branding your company with the ENERGY STAR label will set you apart from your competition. By becoming an ENERGY STAR partner:

  • You will demonstrate that you're aware of the nation's growing concern about rising energy prices and that you're well positioned to meet your customers' needs.
  • You will receive free sales and marketing resources for your use in communicating your environmental leadership and participation in the ENERGY STAR program.

Partner Locator Listing and Logo Access

You will enjoy the added measure of credibility derived from partnering with EPA. Part of this credibility is illustrated by your listing on the Partner Locator and utilizing ENERGY STAR's logos in your marketing efforts.

To be listed on the Partner Locator and to access ENERGY STAR's logos, financing partners must first submit to EPA a copy of a home energy rating report used by the partner to write an EEM. Then every 12 month period thereafter, the partner must submit copies of three home energy rating reports used by the partner to write three EEMs. The partner must also be able to answer consumer questions about ENERGY STAR qualified homes and energy efficient mortgages (EEMs). Once a year, EPA will call each lender partner at the telephone number provided to determine whether consumers can get questions answered about ENERGY STAR qualified homes and EEMs. Partners who are not able to fulfill the above partnership conditions will be considered to be inactive partners.

Inactive partners will be removed from the ENERGY STAR Web site and may not use the ENERGY STAR logo marks, advertise themselves as an ENERGY STAR partner, and will not be included by EPA on any partnership lists. Inactive partners may be reinstated as "active" partners at any time by submitting copies of three home energy rating reports used by the lender to write three EEMs. More information on home energy ratings is available through the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Exit ENERGY STAR.

Many partners link their Web sites to ENERGY STAR. For these partners, in addition to their listing on the Partner Locator, EPA provides a link back to the partner's Web site. For more information, refer to our Web Linking Policy.

Lenders: Getting Started as a Partner

Participate in the ENERGY STAR Mortgage Pilot Program

An ENERGY STAR mortgage pilot program is underway to demonstrate that financing can be a useful tool for enhancing the success of investing in energy-efficient homes by lowering borrowing costs, as well as demonstrating the importance of utilizing a network of qualified energy auditors and contractors to ensure that cost-effective energy efficiency improvements are realized.

Becoming an ENERGY STAR lender partner gives lenders the ability to utilize ENERGY STAR’s marketing resources in promoting ENERGY STAR mortgages, as well as the energy efficient mortgages and energy improvement mortgages (EEMs and EIMs) offered by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, and VA. Lenders must submit a completed lender partnership agreement to EPA. Lenders must indicate their participation in the pilot program for ENERGY STAR mortgages on the lender partnership agreement by writing "ENERGY STAR mortgage" on the agreement. Lenders participating in the ENERGY STAR mortgage pilot program may immediately use the ENERGY STAR partner-only marks to promote ENERGY STAR mortgages and must write at least three ENERGY STAR mortgages each year to maintain access to these partner-only marks.