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.
While it varies by location, FHA loans generally allow borrowers to obtain no more than 96.5 percent financing, which means you can expect to pay 3.5 percent of a home's cost up front. There's no way around it - you can't get the loan without making this lump-sum payment.