The Biden administration has backed a new federal rule that will make homebuyers with good credit scores subsidize borrowers with riskier credit ratings, The Washington Times reports.

Effective on new mortgages and refinancing after May 1, the fee changes are part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s agenda to create more affordable housing.

Homebuyers with credit scores of 680 or higher will be charged an additional fee on their home loans, called the Loan-Level Price Adjustment (LLPA). Federally back mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will oversee the use of the LLPAs to subsidize mortgages for people with lower credit scores.

A person with good credit who takes out a $400,000 mortgage, for instance, will pay an additional $40 a month on the fees. The levies will hit homebuyers who make large down payments the hardest.

Mortgage lenders and real estate lenders are opposed to the new fees and say they will confuse and frustrate homebuyers, who will view them as penalties for building good credit.

They also say the additional costs could not come at a worse time, after a year in which the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s, lifting mortgages above 6%.

“The changes do not make sense,” says Ian Wright, a senior loan officer at Bay Equity Home Loans outside San Francisco. “Penalizing borrowers with larger down payments and credit scores will not go over well. It overcomplicates things for consumers during a process that can already feel overwhelming.”

Kenny Parcell, president of the National Association of Realtors, said earlier this year, “In the wake of a 3-percentage-point increase in mortgage rates, now is not the time to raise fees on homebuyers.”

David Stevens, a former head of the Mortgage Bankers Association who was commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration under the Obama administration, says the new rules don’t make sense.

“The gap in homeownership opportunity is real,” Stevens says. “America is facing a severe shortage of affordable homes for sale, combined with excessive demand, causing an imbalance. But convoluting pricing and credit is not the way to solve this problem.”