The check digits enable the sending bank (or its customer) to perform a sanity check of the routing destination and account number from a single string of data at the time of data entry.
Generally, interest rates on FHA-backed mortgages are competitive with conventional mortgages. A quick scan of interest rates for 2012 reveals that FHA mortgages feature rates of about 3.33 percent. The FHA states that the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan on a single-family home is about 4.06 percent.
The biggest downside of FHA loans has long been the costs associated with the upfront and annual mortgage insurance premiums. The upfront mortgage insurance premium is 1.75 percent of the loan amount. That's $3,500 on a $200,000 mortgage loan.