San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 14, 2013 -- LoanLove.com, a website with the mission of helping consumers and borrowers to obtain the latest information on mortgage lending trends, the real estate market and U.S. financial landscape in order to help them obtain a home loan that they will love, reports on the proposed extension and expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program in a new article. The team at LoanLove.com is devoted to help empower both first time and experienced homeowners with valuable resources, first-class knowledge and connections to top-rated industry professionals. To fulfill this goal LoanLove.com is continually updating their website with new articles and guides. This recent article explains what changes and extensions are being considered by the government regarding the HARP program.
The article explains: “Millions of “underwater” homeowners are wondering, “will HARP 3.0 pass”? Just as the government’s popular Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has made news recently with the announcement that the program will be extended through 2015, the equally popular Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has also been under consideration for sweeping changes that would make more underwater homeowners eligible to refinance their mortgages without having to take out expensive private mortgage insurance. Initially implemented in 2009, HARP is in its second iteration – HARP 2.0 – and has reached millions of struggling homeowners who’ve found it difficult to make their mortgage payments, especially as housing prices plummeted in recent years.”
So what changes are being considered? According to the Loan Love article, the proposed expansions would make the program available to those whose mortgages are not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Currently, only those with mortgages underwritten by the government with Fannie and Freddie are allowed to enter the program. The new guidelines would make it possible for those with so called “Alt-A” and sub-prime mortgages to avail of the possibly home-saving refinances offered through the HARP.
The HARP extension would also allow for multiple HARP refinances. Currently, those availing of the program may only refinance once. This has been helpful to many, but those who refinance in the conventional way are able to refinance as often as they wish and thus can benefit from much lower mortgage rates if these rates drop. The new guidelines would allow those in the program to do the same, provided that they have already made at least six payments to their lender under the current refinance.
Lastly, the updated HARP guidelines would allow those with more recent mortgages into the program. As of now, the program will only accept borrowers whose mortgages were taken out on or before May 31, 2009. By allows these newer mortgages, and also mortgages that were not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, millions more Americans will be able to utilize this government program to get more affordable mortgage terms and keep their homes.
Concerning the timing of the changes, if they do in fact get approved, Loan Love says: “Although HARP 3.0 seemed likely to pass earlier in the year, recent economic data has been much more promising and the housing market has seen considerable growth, both in terms of number of sales and increasing prices. Both of these factors mean it may make the legislation more difficult to pass without significant changes, if at all. Most significantly, rising interest rates and the sheer number of underwater homeowners in need of assistance bode well for the likelihood of HARP 3.0 becoming a reality, very soon. Being a great program, that’s helped a lot of homeowners, we sure hope it does!”
For more information on the proposed HARP 3.0 extension and expansion, please visit LoanLove.com for the full article.
Kevin Blue, LoanLove.com, http://loanlove.com/, 949-292-8401, [email protected]
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