Rent Credit for Option to Purchase

[Bill Schrimpf]

Hey there BP - Need some guidance on Rent with Option to Purchase.  The renter (soon to be homeowner) is getting shafted becasue of Fannie Mae guidelines, from what I can tell.  Does anyone know of updated guidelines or a different way to structure the deal?

Renter has been paying $1100/mo (rent) +$350/mo (credit toward purchse) totaling $1450/mo for 4 years.  This is spelled out in the lease/rental agreement.  This leads the purchaser/renter to believe he has $16,800 that can be used for down payment.

Lender says they can only consider 12 of the 48 months per Fannie Mae B3-4.3-12 can be considered.  Too bad about those other 36 months.  Is it really true that for the purposes of Fannie, they can only consider 12 months?  This looks to me like the lender is looking in the wrong place or misinterperting the regulation...

Here is the link to the Bummer Regulation

Thanks in advance!