05Government Obligations

    Account Type Code 05: FHA Home-Improvement Loan

    Account Type Code 05 means "FHA Home-Improvement Loan". A home-improvement installment loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration, most commonly under the Title I program. The federal insurance is what separates it from code 04. It is reported in Account Type (Field 15) of the Base Segment, 2 characters at position 84.

    Specification

    Code05
    MeaningFHA Home-Improvement Loan
    FieldAccount Type (Field 15)
    RecordBase Segment
    Length / position2 chars · 8485
    CategoryGovernment Obligations
    CRRG referenceCRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes)

    What Account Type Code 05 means

    • The federal insurance is the whole distinction. Same product shape as 04, different guarantee behind it.
    • Still reported as Portfolio Type I. FHA insurance on a home-improvement loan does not turn it into a mortgage for Metro 2 purposes.
    • Does NOT cover an FHA-insured purchase or refinance mortgage on the property. That is code 19, which is Portfolio Type M and carries the K3 segment.
    • Does NOT mean the loan is government-held. The lender is a private FHA-approved lender and the government insures it against loss, so the consumer's counterparty on the tradeline is the lender, not the agency, until an insurance claim results in an assignment.
    • IMPORTANT SOURCE NOTE: `src/content/metro2/fields.ts` labels code 05 as Family support. That list is a known defect. The metro2-guide Appendix A source of record, which is what this library publishes, defines 05 as FHA home-improvement.

    When to report 05

    • 1An FHA-approved lender reports a Title I property-improvement loan for a roof and structural repairs.
    • 2A bank reports an FHA-insured improvement loan on a manufactured home classified as real property.
    • 3A community lender reports an FHA-insured accessibility-modification loan on an owner-occupied residence.
    • 4A specialty improvement lender reports a Title I loan that later goes delinquent and continues reporting under 05 through the charge-off cycle.
    • 5A lender reports a Title I loan on a home the borrower also has an FHA-insured mortgage on, keeping the two tradelines under 05 and 19 respectively rather than collapsing them.

    Reporting rules

    • Report 05 only when the loan genuinely carries the FHA insurance. Uninsured improvement financing is 04.
    • Do not attach the K3 segment. This is an installment tradeline, not a mortgage tradeline.
    • Keep the code stable through delinquency, claim, and charge-off. Changing account type mid-life breaks the tradeline's continuity at the bureaus.
    • If an insurance claim is paid and the loan is assigned to HUD, close your tradeline with a zero balance and let the assignee report their own.
    • Do not report the FHA case number in a free-text or account-number field. It has no Base Segment home on an installment tradeline.

    Codes and fields that must agree

    A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 05 has to satisfy.

    • Portfolio Type must be I (Installment), so Scheduled Monthly Payment Amount and a numeric Terms Duration in months are required.
    • Credit Limit must be zero-filled. Portfolio Type I does not carry a credit limit.
    • The K3 segment (mortgage type, property indicator) must be absent. K3 belongs with Portfolio Type M codes such as 19, 25, 26, and 2C.
    • Highest Credit / Original Loan Amount holds the insured advance amount.
    • Terms Frequency is normally M for these amortizing loans.
    • If the loan is assigned to a federal agency, the assignee's tradeline carries the K1 segment naming the original creditor.

    Common errors involving 05

    Vocabulary

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    Source: CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes). Last reviewed 2026-08-25.

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    Metro 2 Account Type Code 05: FHA Home-Improvement Loan