Making Home Affordable

The Making Home Affordable program recently released by the government may or may not be a great thing. The two part plan is supposed to help Roseville homeowners refinance into a lower rate and payment even if they don’t have the equity to qualify for a conventional loan. The second part is a modification program designed to help those that can no longer afford thier payment (for a qualified reason) modify into better terms. The loan mod scam artists I wrote about last week are now reportedly trying to use this new program to convince homeowners into thinking that they are legitimate. To help Roseville mortgage holders identify possible loan mod scams here is a brief rundown of the programs….

Refinance Plan

This plan is targeted at homeowners who have seen their home value decrease and they would like to refinance their loan to take advantage of today’s historically low interest rates. .

To be eligible you must…

• Have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac held mortgage (I can help you find out)
• Be current on your mortgage payments
• Otherwise be able to income and credit qualify for a conventional refinance, however there are some exceptions that make qualifying easier in some instances

With this program your Loan-To-Value ratio can be as high as 105% and there will be no mortgage insurance required on the new loan if your current loan does not require mortgage insurance.

 Modifications Plan

To be eligible you must…

• Have a loan that was obtained on or before January 1, 2009.
• The loan amount must be within conforming limits (I can look them up by county for you)
• Have a qualified financial hardship (I can help you with this information as well)
• Be able to prove that you can no longer afford your payment  

If approved, the modified loan will reduce your interest rate so that the payment will be 31% of your household income.

 We have come across instances where loan mod scammers are trying to convince desperate homeowners that their service is part of the government’s new Home Affordable Modifications program. This is simply not true.

 They may not like it but you do not have to pay for this program. The loan mod companies are using Making Home Affordable Modification to their advantage, to make an extra thousand or so dollars off of homeowners that don’t realize they don’t have to pay anyone for this. As always, let me know if you have any questions. I have much more information on these two wonderful programs. There is no shortage of new modification companies popping up here in Roseville and in Sacramento. Before paying them anything, make sure it’s something you need to do…

~Greg : The Roseville Home & Loan Expert