I’m still getting tons of comments to the blog posts I wrote on the Making Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and lMake Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Homeowners also continue to post questions in Zillow Advice about each plan. With all of the confusion out there, we got in touch with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ask a few questions about the HARP (refinancing) portion of the plan.
From Fannie, here’s info about Fannie-backed loans:
Fannie has a couple of options, and the guidelines we could find seem to be written for lenders, but I’ll try to wade through the technical language and figure out what this means for borrowers.
- DU Refi Plus: This option, which is available April 4, will allow you to use any lender who uses Fannie’s Desktop Underwriter for underwriting. This means you don’t have to go through your current servicer. Fannie’s definition of a servicer is, “a firm that performs servicing functions, including collecting mortgage payments, paying the borrower’s taxes and insurance, and generally managing borrower escrow accounts.”
- Refi Plus: There’s no date spelled out for this option, but this program seems to be pretty streamlined. You have to go through your current servicer, and the process relies on the information contained in your original mortgage file (as long as it was fully documented). Your lender could choose to obtain new documentation for the loan, though. For this option, the eligibility focuses on your financial stability, as demonstrated by mortgage payment history.
Both of these options aim to give you a reduced monthly mortgage principal and interest payment, or get you into a more stable mortgage product.
Find out if you have a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage.
From Freddie, here’s info about Freddie-backed loans:
- The program is effective April 1, 2009.
- The loan has to be refinanced by the same company that currently services your loan, or an affiliate of that company.
- You must have made at least three payments on the loan.
Find out if you have a Freddie Mac-backed mortgage.
To be eligible for the Home Affordable Refinance with either a Freddie or Fannie backed loan your loan MUST be current. If it is not you might want to look into the Home Affordable Modification program.
The government has created a Making Home Affordable Web site that can help lead you through a series of questions to see if you’re eligible for the Home Affordable Refinance option or the Home Affordable Modification option.
I just posted a question in Zillow Advice to see if anyone has a Home Affordable success story, or if any lenders are gearing up to help borrowers with this. Please let us know about your experience.
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- Categories: Approval/Qualification Process, Loan Modification, Refinance
Comments
34 Comments so far
Michelle
I wonder if there is any provision in Freddie for the people whose servicers don’t take new loans. I have etrade mortgage and they don’t do mortgages anymore and I am current. It is a freddie loan, I would love to refi. I need streamlined qualification requirements because I am self employed so this program is perfect for me
Rama
I am the only employee of my corporation and my business has not contracts and no incomes is flowing and hence no pay for me as employee. I have a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage. My current lender is not showing interest in refinancing because I am current on my payments. He may refinance but required the entire documentation and origination fee. Am I eligible for DU Refi Plus and how do I find out the servicer(s) for Fannie Mae. I appreciate any help in this regard.
Christine
Can you do a comparison on home affordable modification vs. home affordable refinancing? Which is better for longterm payments, and can a person get both?
karmen
I understand the loan programs and why they are being offered, what I don’t understadn is why everyone seems so concerned about helping the people who have been making less than an interest payment and now need the High LTV loan to beable to refi out of the mess they got themselves into. I purchased my home 6 years ago on an 80/10/10 program. I have never refied my first because of a good rate of 5%, however I did take some money out on my 2nd for home improvements to the reasonable 1963 home my husband and I bought … and now with values down, I still have no options to refi them into one lower ( but still fixed payment) because in the infinate wisdome of these people making all the rules you cap c/o at 75% in high balance and I live in CA.
It would be nice if there was a program for people who did things the “RIGHT” way, w/ good credit and just not quite enough value !!
Obama Says It’s Time to Refi | Mortgages Unzipped
[...] Comments karmen on More Details on the Making Home Affordable Refinance PlanDale on The New 105% Refi Plan - What I know and What I don’t…..Steve on Chicken or Egg? [...]
glen harvey
The unfortunate and what seems to be evasive question is how does this apply to FHA loans. Streamline financing is expensive and may not be cost affective because the closing costs have to be waived. The affordability program based on 31% in my case may only save $63.00 a month. What happened to those touted interest rates. The best after all the shouting is done is going from 6.5% to maybe 5.25%….The rest of the cost is in Fees from the lenders. Nice job…now the tax payer is paying even more when you consider the cost of refinance. It is not as easy as it looks. The government should have just given us a lump sum payment. It especially ticks me off when the $7,500 tax credit became a loan. It was originally supposed to be for first time home buys who purchased a BANK OWNED home. Something I did. IT is a risk because banks do not have to disclose any defects in the house. So the buyer assumes the risk and pays for the inspection and believe me there are some homes out there that have some real problems. All I wanted to see was a reduced interest rate due to an unemployment issue in my situation. I don’t need the principle changed.
Dharu
Hello
I am so sorry to hear that this program is not designed for the people who are good at financial planning and have taken loan from other lenders besides fannie and freddie.
I have taken a loan from one of the banks and am always regular and particular of my payments to credit card companies, mortgages, etc. I also bought a house by making sure that I can afford the payments and did not buy super expensive house. I have excellent credit history.
I am wondering what is my reward for being regular on my payments. nothing?
I owe a house in CA. I think there should be a refinance plan in place for people who fall in this category. We are being punished paying bills on time.
Please contact me at the dphpvp@yahoo.co.uk, if you think you can help me.
Kris
I went throught the process for the Making Home Affordable refi and it was of no value to me. I have an 80/20 loan which is considered a 1st and a 2nd mortgage. i also have a home equity line which is considered a 3rd. The refi only applied to the first and only reduced my payments by $60/mth. Not even worth the red tape.
John
Good information here Katie. I might also add http://www.making-homes-affordable.com for anyone looking for some additional information on the program.
Skrpune
Just an FYI from my experience with this program so far…
The Home Affordable Refinance program is for folks whose loan was purchased/backed by Freddie or Fannie & only for those whose loans are in good standing. (If your loan is NOT in good standing, then you may qualify for the loan modification program, which is a whole other ball of wax.) I’m in good standing and I got my loan through Wells Fargo, and it turns out that Freddie Mac is the entity that actually own my loan. “Great,” I thought…so I called Wells Fargo to see what the program entailed and what the options were.
However, since my loan was for greater than 80% of the original purchase price, I don’t qualify for the refinance program - they haven’t (yet?) included provisions for those who are either paying mortgage insurance or those who took a premium interest rate in lieu of mortgage insurance. I ended up doing the latter since it worked out better financially for us for the next decade or so. And until we pay down that loan to below 80% of the current value of our condo (which keeps dropping and dropping and keeps making our paydown amount larger), we’re stuck with 6.5% interest, phooey. We didn’t even have the option to go with an 80/10/10 or 80/20 route, because when we took out our loan (last year), it wasn’t available with our lender and we couldn’t find another competitive offer from another lender that was still doing them.
SO, just wanted to share my experience for others out there who were in the same boat and didn’t have the 20% to put down and weren’t able to get an 80/10/10 or an 80/20 loan.
President Obama Says It Is A Good Time To Refinance | Arizona Mortgage Team
[...] urged homeowners to refinance. Mortgage rates are at historical lows, and the government’s new Making Home Affordable plan has been set into motion, opening the door for millions of homeowners to refinance at a lower [...]
rkv
Lenders are using stalling and delaying tactics. Making home affordable was anounced more than a month ago. Only response I hear is that we are yet to recieve information about these programs. Instead of throwing billions into these cash hoarding banks, the government might have as well made Fannie and Freddie open lending outlets bypassing these banks who are not game enough to change their ways (which only led to more foreclosures and depreciating home values). Better plan would have been increased tax breaks for homeowners
mike
I contacted my sevicer citimortgage about a home affordable DU refi. The customer service rep said that they are very busy with othercustomers and gave me another phone number to contact for my refinancing needs. When I called the contact it turned out to be a broker. The broker was not participating in the fannie mae home affordable DU refi program, but suggested I try Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo was interested in refinancing my fannie mae mortgae.
I was surprised that citi is too busy to service their own customer accounts, I suggest you contact Wells Fargo, they will at least take a look at your refinancing needs.
Arlene
I contacted Citimortgage over a month ago and still have not gotten a call back. I was trying for a loan modification.
they make a lot of noise about how they want to help their customers, but are not folowing through.
Rod
What an experience. Citimortgage appears to have absolutely no clue in what their doing. My first mortgage is with Litton Loan and my second mortgage is with Citimortgage. I too am attempting to get my first mortgage refinanced by Citimortgage thru the DU Refi program. I chose Citimortgage because I had believed getting the second mortgage subordinated with Citimortgage would be easier if their servicing my first mortgage. My current loan is serviced by Fannie Mae and based on the guidlines I’ve read, I can select any participating Fannie May Lender.
So, I signed up online back on April 2nd and scheduled a time for a loan officer to call me. In reality, you wait over a week for a $7/hr operator to call you and take more information. You’re then told you’ll hear from them again in 3-4 weeks. Well, I waited 3 weeks and called again. I was than told if I didn’t hear from them by the 23rd of April, to give them a call back. The 23rd came and went with no call (Surprise). I called them again today on April 27th. Every time I call and they ask me for an account number, I have to explain that even though I have a Citimortgage account number for my second mortgage, that isn’t the reason I’m calling. I told them again today I’m calling about the status for the Home Affordability program, etc and that my current first loan wasn’t with them. She says, Oh, then you should call your primary lender. HELLO…. I said, no, I have a Fannie Mae serviced loan and I can select the participating lender that I want to use, and I want to use Citimortgage. She then proceeds to validate the information I gave earlier in the month and says she’s transferring it to a loan officer who will call me in 3-5 days. It’s an endless cycle. You call and you call and everone at Citimortgage has no knowledge of anything. The operators answering the phone don’t understand and have not been properly trained for the government programs that are available.
So, I sit here waiting again, only to wait until next Monday to call again. They won’t call me. They aren’t organized enough, nor do they have the proper resources to handle this program.
Thankfully I can afford my payment, or thanks to Citimortgage, I’d be living in a tent.
I’ll keep calling though and will update this once I get somewhere.
DON’T GIVE UP! KEEP CALLING!
Mary
I’ve been on a BofA’s waiting list for over 1.5 month. Like above, I kept calling them asking when will I get my opportunity. Yesterday, I finally got through and they were able to help. After waiting for all this time, the rates and points they provided me makes me worry how effective this plan will be. They told me that I had to pay 4 points to get a rate of 4.875 (5.30% APR) and they would attach that to my loan amount. Based on my calculations, it will take me almost 5 years to pay off the 4 points. I highly doubt I will pursue this option.
I’m curious if others are getting similiar type of quote.
Skrpune
Mary - that sounds like a regular refinance, not part of the Home Affordability program. You don’t need to buy points to get a lower rate with the Home Affordability program, but at this time not everyone qualifies. If you’re not in good standing or if your loan isn’t held/backed by either Fannie or Freddie, or if you didn’t put down 20%+ & your remaining loan balance isn’t less than 80% of the CURRENT value of the house, then there’s nothing in the plan at this time…and the bank will invariably try to offer you some other refinance program that costs you points. Just say no!!
Mary
Skrpune - According to BofA, I do qualify for Home Affordabilty program and the information and the quote they provided me was under the new plan. The ratio comes out to 99% due to my home value. My original loan was 80/10/10 and they are refinancing only my 1st loan. I was bit surprised in my mortgage analysis they indicated that I had to pay 4 points to get 4.875% rate. I questioned the loan officer about the points and she indicated that is what they charge to get that rate. If I choose not to pay any points, then my rate will be in high 6’s. This is ridiculous. I am not sure if this loan officer is trying to rip me off or it is a standard at BofA.
John
I called my loan servicer a couple weeks ago and asked about the Home Affordable Refinance program. They said they’re not a loan originator and gave me some local bank names who might participate in the program. I called all banks in the list but most of them were not interested. One bank paid attention to my situation and actually started working on processing my application after some settlement in PMI with my loan servicer. It looked very hopeful until they came across a problem with the underwriting software. They said the underwriting s/w did not recognize my address as an eligible property for the program. I made sure my loan is a Fannie Mae loan through both the online look-up site and my loan servicer. The loan officer of the bank said we might have to wait until they upgrade the software. Are there any other people who have similar experience?
Niel
Hi,
My mortage servicer is Talyor Bean and Witaker and my mortage investor is Freddie mac. When I call my lender regarding the obama refinancing program, they keep saying that they have not received guidelines for the program and asked to check back in two weeks. I have called atleast 4 times to them.This is really frustrating.
To be eligible for the program, your first mortgage should be less 105% of house value(second mortgage is not considered in LTV), good credit,no missing payments, 1-4 unit house. If you are not paying PMI now, you will not have to pay PMI again on new mortgage. These are straightforward guidelines.
But I DON’T understand why they keep saying they didn’t get guidelines.
Jennifer
We e-mailed BB&T about this a month ago. No one ever contacted me. I filled out the online application on my mortgage website since we are serviced by Freddie Mac. I re-emailed the mortgage broker again today and was told in an e-mail….
“Jennifer - I tried to call you on this… but your phone number changed. You do not qualify… call me and I will explain. -”
This is what I got. I called her but so far no call back from them. I don’t understand this since every questionnaire we fill out on both the govt’s website and banrate’s website says that we should. We meet the criteria above…… What’s up with this???
Niel
My lender told me go at http://www.taylorbean.com/refinance
But it is saying “Trouble in retrieving the loan and may not qualify”
em
I have a citimortgage loan and called them to see what the refi would be. I currently have a Fanie Mae backed loan at 6.625% interest. They said they will add 2pt.s plus a $565 bank fee, a $470 application fee and the title, etc. would be about $1,362.00. They would roll the points and fees into the loan and I would have to pay the $470 app fee to lower my interest rate to 5.125%. I would save $60 a month. I have only had this loan for two years and have PMI of $60 that I would still also have with the refi. I would continue to have PMI for a longer period if I did this and the fees just do not help anyone in the long run…does anyone know of a decent mortgage broker who is not trying to profit from the program? The guy at Citi said that the deal is not a good one because they will add points! I even called the Making Home Affordable counselors to see if they could give me some advice and got the serious run around. You call and the person who answers the phone asks you a series of questions and is not able to answer any questions. After 10 minutes of that I was on hold for 5 minutes then another person picked up and asked more questions then when I asked about the refi he said he was not a counselor but if I left my name and number someone would call me back within the week. There is not any help there is not any hope there is no change…
Stephanie Ng
Tried to refinance my home, but not able to because a few houses around my area were either foreclosed or sold at a lower price. The bank’s guideline has tighten on LTV and CLTV at 80% or lower, and my loan was 85%. We couldn’t come out with the money to close the loan.
My husband and I have great credit, never late on mortgage payment. Our debt ratio is good, BUT the bank doesn’t care about that…we have adjustable mortgage, when is our turn to receive a little help? Until we cannot afford our mortgage and late on payment????
Rose Derreberry
i have triedwith greentree to get my mortgage modified but the wont ans me. i went thre home making your home afforable but never hear a thing. im a 72 widow on a fixed income. i have other bills like my electric and they said i didnt nee electric or phone, in in a wheelchair cant do for myself and they are calling every day. im sick cant take this please help me
Raymond M. Devine
I received a letter from my Mortgage company[Taylor Bean] explaining President
Obama’s Homeowner Afforability and Stability Plan.It told me to go online and fill out Application ,when i did i see nothing that represents Taylor Bean & Whitaker could you please help and email me @ redvine4@yahoo.com.
Thanks,
Ray Devine
david isbell
I received a letter from my mortgage company (taylor bean} explaining about President Obama”s homeowner afforability and stability plan, and directed me to visit web site http://www.taylorbean.com/refinance, and complete my application online. I see nothing that represents Taylor Bean & Whitaker with applications to fill out. can you help me on this please?
Julie Bankston
I have the same problem as the other people commenting that they have received a letter from Taylor Bean directing them to a web site–but where is the onlone application????
Tom VS
Has anyone had any luck with Refi? I have contacted my lender..PHH mortgage about this option. I was immediately told that they would send me a package to fill out and return for the HOME MODIFICATION program. I told them that as far as I can tell, I meet all requirements for the refi and that is what I wanted to pursue. I was told that, (although my loan was verified as a Fannie Mae loan by both the Fannie Mae website and by their loan department) my loan was not a Fannie Mae. She asked why I thought my loan was a Fannie Mae and I told her her own finance department had verified it is indeed a Fannie Mae. Then the lady said all she could send me the package for Modification and by law did not have to tell me why I can not qualify for refi. IS THERE ANY LENDER OUT THERE THAT IS DOING THE OFFICIAL MAKING HOMES AFFORDABLE REFI PROGRAM?
vu
I also got a letter from Taylor Bean about President
Obama’s Homeowner Afforability and Stability Plan, and figured out how to get to online application:
- go to http://www.taylorbean.com
- log in to your mortgage account
- in your mortgage home page, under “My Message”, there is a link to start the online application.
Denis
Fifth Third Bank is the only lender that I have seen actually follow through on this program. I have PHH and quilify but they are dragging their feet like the rest of lenders.
Foreclosure Hope
I think that the expanded reach of the Making home Affordable mortgage refinance Program that obam put in to place on July 1 is a very positive and wise decision. I say this becuase thus far only around 200,000 Homeowners were able to refinance under the terms of old with the loan to value ratio was 105%. Now with the loan to value ratio @ 125% the door is open to many more Homeowners.
I just cross my fingers that the lending community and more specifically the loss mitigation and foreclosure workout departments of all the mortgage lenders are going to be willing to work with those kind of figures. I almost think Obama should have increased the incentive just a hair to add a bit of feasibility and security to those lending upside down loans to Homeowners who are going through a financial hardship.
There is some great information and insight on the Maling Home Affordsable Loan Modification and Mortgage Refinance Programs @
http://www.hopenhousing.org/make_home_affordable.html
From here you can find loan modification processing insight from the lenders perspective as well as general information on the program and even a overview and review of the website of the Making home affordable plan.
susana
citi its the worst,i called over 20 times and they keep transfering from program to program.i am fannie mae,citi told me i have too many debts, i have 2 choices 1)shortsale 2) leave keys on kitchen counter . I am no behind on my payment and i know i qualify for making home affortable. i had income decreased about a 1000 monthy,no overtime. i need some kind of relief, maybe a couple of points down on my 1st. but citi does not want to work with you.they find any excuse not to help. i wonder if i can complaint to fannie mae. i also went to hud counseling and they are trying to help, but citi is like a wall. on the other hand my 2nd is with bofa and i called them, in a week, over the phone t5hey reduce my int, in 50% and fixed for 2 years.and sent the paperwork for us to sign, in 2 weeks period the new pmt was reflected in the interne. also they let me skip 2 pmts in a trailer loan, to help me to catch up, without affecting the credit, it will roll to the end. very good experience with bofa, citi is the worst nightmare.
Katianna
I have a Fanny mae mrtg thru Trumark Financial Credit Union. In process of file being reviewed for Making Home Affordable or any Workout plan available. But has been going on for over 8 months. from one excuse to another just dragging feet. Even went to a so called Non Profit organization Mission of Peace, Progressive Action and Restoration but was hood winked they collected off of my file but nothing was done. So don’t even go to the free counselors who claim will help they just want numbers to be able to be funded government funds such a rip off!! Has anyone made any progress with the making home affordable is it possible to get a reduced interest and principal due to financial hardship? Seems for me to be going back and forth for 8 months it is not helping folk who really need it. I have never been late. my credit has just within last 8 months went down but was always out of debt for over 20 years. I am so stressed right now for everyone going thru this!