HARP - Home Affordable Refinance Program

HARP | home affordable refinance program | refi | making home affordable

The HARP program (aka HARP 2.0 or HARP 2) explained

The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0) is now underway.  In essence, this will allow homeowners to refinance their mortgage without an appraisal in most cases offering much needed payment relief.  Originally launched in September 2009, the Home Affordable Refinance Program was designed to help millions of homeowners, but it only helped approx 900,000, falling far short of analysts expectations.

HARP 2.0 is expected to help millions of homeowners refi and take advantage of near record interest rates while assisting in reducing the number of foreclosures.  There are still some of the same requirements that the first version of the Making Home Affordable program had.  For example, the home must be owned by Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac.  And that loan must've been sent to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac by June 1, 2009 (something most homeowners are unaware of). 

The original Home Affordable Refinance Program was geared towards the big five lenders: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ally Financial, JPMorgan Chase, and Citimortgage.  Under the new HARP 2.0 program, there are many lenders participating in this.  One thing to look out for is that most lenders will still have what are called "overlays". These are additional restrictions & guidelines above what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require and this will limit the options for homeowners that go to these lenders.

To get the most out of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, homeowners need to find a lender that does not have any overlays.  For example, Justin Lees, Branch Manager at Western Bancorp, can offer the HARP 2.0 program with zero overlays.  Justin can be reached at 916.276.7618 or homeowners can apply online atwww.securehomefinance.com. 

If you qualify for the Home Affordable Refinance Program, but you have mortgage insurance (MI), you will still be able to get a new HARP 2.0 loan as the mortgage insurance is simply transferred over (unless your MI company is Triad).   Regarding appraisals, they are generally not needed for the HARP 2 program.  There are cases where an appraisal will be needed to determine other property specific characteristics, but the value will not affect eligibilty. 

Another benefit of the HARP 2.0 program is that the costs are less.  Traditionally, conventional mortgages have what are called loan level adjustments so that as you go up higher on the loan-to-value ladder (75%, 80%, 85%, 90%...) the interest rate increases (or the cost for a specific interest rate increases). The same is true for Fico Score.  For example, the cost for a certain rate is higher for a homeowner with a 680 Fico score compared to the cost for that same rate for a homeowner with a 740 Fico score.  This is not the case with the new Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2).

 To check to see if you qualify for either of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (Fannie or Freddie), CLICK HERE.

Or feel free to contact the HARP 2 expert, Justin Lees, at either justin@westernbancorp.com or 916-276-7618