What is the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP)?

HARP is a federal government program that was introduced in March 2009. It is designed to help homeowners who are underwater with their mortgage payments. It allows them to refinance their home into a fixed loan with a lower monthly payment, thus avoiding foreclosure. In October 2011, President Obama announced a change for HARP that would allow it to reach even more underwater homeowners. It is now known as HARP 2.0. 

Are you having difficulty making your current mortgage payment? Do you owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth? Perhaps HARP is right for you! In order to qualify, you must meet all of the following requirements:

• Your mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, and it must have been sold to one of these before June 1, 2009.
• It cannot have been previously refinanced with HARP.
• The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of your loan must be greater than 80%
• The borrower must be current on the mortgage at the time of refinancing, having not missed a payment in the past 6 months. One late payment is allowed in the past 12 months.
• You must have a minimum credit score of 620 to qualify.
• You must have a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 45% or less

If you would like more information about this program, Crosscountry Mortgage would be happy to help! Give us a call at (877) 828-8851.

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Refinancing Your Mortgage Can Save You Money!

Freddie Mac has released more information that only further proves the benefits of refinancing. The results of its Q4 refinance analysis shows that 84% of homeowners who have refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either remained at the same loan amount, or managed to lower their principal balance. This helps to strengthen their fiscal house. On average, those who have refinanced were able to reduce their interest rate by 1.8 percentage points.

In December, Fixed-Rate mortgages averaged low percentages. 30-year loans were around 3.4% and 15-year loans averaged 2.7%. Because of these low rates, refinancing can help you save money on your overall mortgage. For example, when a loan for $200,000 is refinanced using these average statistics and percentages would translate to a saving of roughly $3,600 in interest for the following 12 months.

Through the HARP program, borrowers have been able to refinance when they traditionally would not have had access to it. They've obtained low rates that have significantly reduced their monthly payments. As a result, the risk of foreclosure is decreased for these borrowers since they are able to continue paying affordably.

Quest Loans specializes in HARP loans, and in refinancing.  We would like to help you qualify for an HARP loan if you have low income needs. If you already have a HARP loan, or any other type of loan, ask us about refinancing! It is never too late to start saving money on your monthly mortgage payment! 888-883-5252

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