Mortgage-Refinancing Program Undergoes Changes

Mortgage-Refinancing Program Undergoes Changes

The federal government on Tuesday announced the nitty-gritty details of its revamped refinancing program to help homeowners who are current on their loans but can’t take advantage of low interest rates because they owe more on their homes than they are worth.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency acknowledged that the 894,000 mortgages refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program had not lived up to the Obama administration’s expectations.

The reworked effort certainly will attract the attention of homeowners in hard-hit housing markets. But not every consumer with an upside-down mortgage will qualify, and it remains to be seen how many mortgage lenders will participate.

Q: Who may be eligible?
A: The program is only eligible to borrowers whose loans are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and who have 20 percent or less equity in their homes. To check if either Fannie or Freddie backs a mortgage, go to http:/// www.freddiemac.com/mymortgageor http://w www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup. The only loans eligible are those that were backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before May 31, 2009.

Q: When can applications be submitted, and when does the program end?
A: The program begins Dec. 1 but some participating lenders may not be ready to take applications that soon. The program ends Dec. 31, 2013.

Q: Can borrowers apply at any lender?
A: Yes. Participation is voluntary for lenders, but one key component of the reworked program is designed to make lenders more comfortable with writing a new loan on an underwater property. Going forward, a HARP lender is not considered responsible if a loan it refinances goes bad because of mistakes in the original purchase loan. The change was considered critical to attracting lenders to the program and fostering competition among lenders for business. However, lenders still have underwriting guidelines to follow.

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If I refinance my home to cash out equity and end up foreclosing in the future, what can happen to me?

Oct 06, 2007 by iboughtanightmare | Posted in Renting & Real Estate

I like many others am in financial trouble and am having problems paying my mortgage.
I'm thinking about refinancing my home (for no more than it's current market value) and taking my equity so I can pay off my car and a credit card.
If I do that, and still end up facing foreclosure in the future - what can happen to me besides having my credit ruined?
I live in Arizona - the law here states that - "A lender may not bring a deficiency suit against a person who lost a property that is 2.5 acres or less at a foreclosure provided the property is a single one-family or a single two-family dwelling."
I fall into that catagory. Basicly, I'm wondering about future pit-falls if the worst case scenerio happens and I do end up foreclosing after I do a cash-out refi.

That is not the law here in Texas but it sounds like you will be OK there except....if you do this and somehow they can tell you planned it all along...I bet that falls into the category of defrauding a bank (bank fraud).

If you innocently have hard times though, your credit is ruined, but it doesn't sound like you can have a deficiency filed against you.

The federal government is discussing passing a law that might protect you against the "phantom income" problem. "Phantom income" is when a mortgage company turns any shortfall into the IRS and you owe taxes on that amount of the mortgage you didn't pay back.

How do you start marketing effectively for a Mortgage company in Arizona?

Jul 27, 2006 by Owen H | Posted in Search Engine Optimization

I have been given the task of creating new Ideas to generate business in our (home, construction, lot, refinance and HELOC programs) What are some cheaper, more effective avenues that work?

nothing really cheap AND effective. "best" way is to produce some flyers detailing your most aggressive products that people will actually want. low rates, closing costs, etc etc. people get that crap all the time so there has to be something on there that catches their eye at least and makes them want to read on.