14 Mar 11 Home Affordable Refinance Program Extended for 1 Year
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has been extended for another year. The mortgage relief program was set to expire on June 30th but will now continue until that date in 2012. News of the extension comes while a House subcommittee is debating the end of the Home Affordable Refinance Program’s companion, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and has already voted to kill the FHA Short refinance program and the new Emergency Homeowner Loan Program which would provide 23 months of mortgage assistance unemployed and underemployed home owners.
HARP is designed to assist homeowners who owe more money on their current home loan that the market value of their home and are thus unable to qualify for a conventional refinance. Refinance loans from HARP are administered by the Enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, can potentially reduce homeowners’ interest rates and remove some of the incentives for a strategic default.
The use of HARP more than tripled in 2010. During the year a total of 6.8 million home loans were refinanced nationwide and HARP, with 621,803 loan closings, represented nearly 10% of the total. In 2009 190,180 homeowners used the program for mortgage rate refinancing.
To qualify for HARP you must currently have a home loan owned or guaranteed by the Enterprises, have a one year history of on-time payments on your mortgage, and owe more on your home loan than your house is worth. The loan-to-value, however, cannot exceed 125%.
04 Mar 11 Is Congress Defunding the Mortgage Relief Programs?
Yesterday House Republicans introduced new legislation in an effort to shut down Federal housing and several popular mortgage relief programs that were created to stem foreclosures. Congress will debate eliminated the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program, Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The Republican lawmakers contest that these mortgage relief programs have failed and therefore should no longer be funded.
Will Congress Repeal the Home Affordable Modification Program?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnIKEP6H5FA
Obama Mortgage Relief – There are certainly two sides to the foreclosure prevention initiatives that Obama has backed, as thousands of homeowners credits HAMP for helping them avoid foreclosures. Meanwhile, millions of homeowners are currently stuck in the loan modification process for six months to a year on average, because lenders are unable to facilitate the high demand of loan relief.
FHA Short Refinance Program in Jeopardy of Being Cut
FHA rates fell this week, but lenders and brokers continue to report that more and more borrowers are not meeting the underwriting criteria for refinancing because of credit or equity issues. In related news, FHA Commissioner David Stevens reiterated his support for the FHA short refinancing that was created to help underwater homeowners reduce their principal balance. On Wednesday, he discussed the progress of the FHA programs with a group of lenders who are eager to participate in the FHA short refi program. This controversial refinance program facilitates lenders to write down at least 10% of the principal balance on the home loan. Read the original article online > Emergency Mortgage Relief Program.
14 Aug 10 Has Obama Mortgage Relief Gone Too Far?
The Obama administration funded the Home Affordable Refinance Program, Home Affordable Modification Program, Hope for Homeowners and now the Emergency Homeowner Loan Program. Most of these tax-payer funded mortgage-bailout programs failed miserably. However, the Home Affordable Refinance Program,initiatve did help underwater homeowners with 125% mortgage refinancing , but only a small percentage of homeowners met th Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan requirements. Rates on fifteen-year loans dropped to 3.92% this week and the thirty-year rates fell to 4.44%. Nationwide reported that economist have forecasted that approximately 20 million homeowners will have an underwater mortgage at some point in 2011. The Fed announced this week they it would use the proceeds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolio of mortgage-backed securities to purchase government debt.
FHA refinancing requirements are getting more difficult for the average borrower as HUD is said to be tinkering with a minimum credit score of 500. Lenders are bracing themselves for tighter FHA guidelines in the coming year as HUD moves to rebuild the reserves for the FHA insurance premiums. Read the original article online > Relief for Refinancing with Short Refinance and Emergency Homeowner Loan Programs
20 Jun 10 California Loan Modification Bill SB 1275
According to the LA Times, SB 1275 would prevent lenders from foreclosing on borrowers who are seeking to modify their home mortgages. California Senators Mark Leno and Darrell Steinberg are proposing to extend the same protection to all Californian homeowners making an effort to get a loan modification. The California loan modification bill (SB 1275) would stop a lender or mortgage service company from initiating the foreclosure process until after a mortgage loan modification application was denied. Read the original article online > Are California Loan Modification Plans Working for Lenders?
25 May 10 No 2nd Mortgage Modifications for Obama Loan Relief Efforts
According to the Huffington Post, 11 million homeowners owe more on their home loan than their house is worth, putting them “underwater.” Obama’s 2nd mortgage modification program has failed miserably because after one year and millions of 2nd loan candidates they have not modified even one second mortgage loan. This mortgage relief plan was supposed to reward mortgage servicers to coordinate principal reductions on second mortgage loans when the first mortgage is modified under the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program.
In today’s upside-down market, homeowners who are stuck with under-water mortgages are seeking principal reductions. Many second mortgage lenders are actually lowering the principal for these borrowers because in many cases it is a better option than taking over the property from a foreclosure or surrender. Loan modification sthat simply lower the interest rate are often not enough for homeowners residing in these heavily depreciated regions like Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix, Arizona. According to Citi’s regulatory filings, about 28% of its first mortgages are now worth more than the underlying assets, along with about 42% of their second mortgages. Read the original article > Obama Second Mortgage Loan Modification Plan Failing
Tags: Home Affordable Modification Program, principal reductions, second mortgage loans
