You may find it harder to get a mortgage in this new year.  The rules are more strict in  an effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make the housing market safer for consumers. Carmen Wong Ulrich, host of Marketplace Money has been tracking these new mortgage rules. 

“Now in terms of mortgages that you can get backed by the FHA, they cannot have any of these interest-only risky mortgages,” Wong Ulrich says. “Those loan options don’t exist. Your debt load cannot exceed 43 percent of your gross monthly income. Now, lenders can make exceptions to that one, but there are also some transparency rules. Just as in credit cards, now lenders have to spell out your mortgage loud and clear.”

To hear more about the new mortgage rules, click the audio player above.