Senate Republicans are taking aim at a “shortsighted” Biden rule that would force homebuyers with good credit scores to pay higher mortgage rates and fees to subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who are also in the market to buy houses.

Sen. Roger Marshall, Kansas Republican, sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency demanding details on how the policy would be implemented.

He said the rule will “invert the common-sense risk financing structure” at government-sponsored entities and mortgage providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“This shortsighted and counterproductive policy demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the necessity of accurately tailoring housing finance products to credit risk and establishes a perverse incentive that punishes hardworking Americans for their fiscal prudence,” Mr. Marshall said in the letter obtained by Fox News.

The fee changes will go into effect May 1 as part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s push for affordable housing, and they will affect mortgages originating at private banks across the country. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will implement the loan-level price adjustments, or LLPAs.

Mortgage industry specialists say homebuyers with credit scores of 680 or higher will pay, for example, about $40 per month more on a home loan of $400,000. Homebuyers who make down payments of 15% to 20% will get socked with the largest fees.

The new fees will apply only to Americans buying houses or refinancing after May 1.

Mr. Marshall’s letter signals Republicans won’t let the rule go into effect quietly, and may challenge it in court.

The senator accused President Biden of using the changes for political gain.

“The housing market should not be exploited as a means to pander to targeted demographics that you have chosen, nor an instrument to secure political favoritism,” he said in the letter with a dozen other senators.

It’s not just Republicans who are upset with the rule. President Barack Obama’s former Federal Housing Administration commissioner, David Stevens, told Fox News the nation “can do better programs to help more minorities get into homeownership.”

“This is not the way to do it,” Mr. Stevens said.

The Biden administration is defending the rule. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson, a Biden appointee, said the fee changes will “increase pricing support for purchase borrowers limited by income or by wealth.”

The agency calls the overall fee changes “minimal” and said the moves will ensure market stability.

• Dave Boyer contributed to this story.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.