While a number of government loan programs have been slowed by the shutdown in Washington, the entire staff of the U. S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service has been furloughed, paralyzing the processing of loans for rural Americans. As nationalmortgagenews reports, Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, says, “People in rural areas who have applied for a USDA loan will not be able to see it through until after the shutdown.” MHProNews understands these are loans guaranteed by the USDA.

(Image credit: housingwire/shutterstock–“Deflated”)