Back in December I wrote a blog post about current rates and “The Obama Loan”, more accurately Known as HARP 2.0. HARP 2.0 has been back in the news a lot lately and I have received many inquiries regarding the program and how it works.
Back in November when the program was announced, the lending community did not know exactly how this program was going to unfold or what “overlays” to the guidelines they were going to place. The one thing we did know is that whatever the guidelines on the new program were, they were not going to take effect until March 2012. Fannie Mae published an update to its “Refi Plus” program which HARP 2.0 falls under, so I figured I would e-mail this information out because we are now getting very close to the launch of the HARP 2.0 program.
Here is a link to the actual Fannie Mae announcement. CLICK HERE Then Click on the link for HARP 2.0 Guides in info, or cut and paste this address to your browser. http://americanmortgagenow.com/custompage-view.aspx?id=27
The Bullet Points – Here are the main points and things to know about this program to determine if you or someone you know may benefit from it.
1st – Your current loan must be a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac Loan. Here is a link to my website that has two Look up tools to determine if Fannie or Freddie owns your mortgage. http://americanmortgagenow.com/resources.aspx
2nd – You must be current on your Mortgage. You cannot have had any late payments in the last 6 months and no more than 1 late in last 12 months.
3rd - Loan to Value. At this time we are not 100% sure what the loan to value restrictions are going to be on this program. As you can see from the guidelines put out by Fannie Mae, they are removing the LTV limits from the prior HARP 1.0 of 125% to unlimited LTV. Unfortunately, I doubt any lenders will truly offer unlimited LTV, I do however expect the maximum LTV requirements to go up significantly. (You may have already seen lenders advertising that they are now doing the HARP 2.0 loan. They are not, all they have done is increase their Max LTV to 125% to match the already in existence HARP 1.0 loan. Many lenders previously were only offering LTV’s up to 105%)
4th - Removal of Bankruptcy & Foreclosure policy. HARP 2.0 removes the required waiting periods and reestablished credit requirements to qualify for this program. The only time you would have to credit qualify is if your payment is increasing as a result of the refinance. This would occur if someone was going from an ARM, Interest only, or Negative Amort loan, etc.
I hope you find this information useful. As we get closer to launch date and we receive more updated information I will be sure to pass it alone. Please call me directly if you have any questions or would like to see if you will qualify for this program. Greg Novak 386-846-6686.
Additionally here is a direct link to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) official website. http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/lower-rates/Pages/harp.aspx
It's a Good Life!!!
Greg Novak MBA
NMLS # 329079
Vice President / Partner
American Mortgage
Cell - 386-846-6686
Office - 386-756-8228
Fax - 386-756-8108
Website - www.AmericanMortgageNow.com
Oh, by the way, If you know someone who is thinking about buying or refinancing a home, please give me a call with their name and number, I will be happy to follow up with them for you.
FLORIDA- American Mortgage Loan Services, Inc. - NMLS Company ID 330596
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