HARP Extended for Another Year

The HomernAffordable Refinance Program (HARP) has been extended for another yearrnaccording to information released on Friday from the Federal Housing FinancernAgency.</p

 The program was due to expire onrnJune 30 but will now continue until that date in 2012.   News ofrnthe extension comes while a House subcommittee is debating the end of HARPsrncompanion program, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and hasrnalready voted to kill the FHA Short-Refi program and the new EmergencyrnAssistance Loan Program (EALP) which would provide 23 months of mortgagernassistance unemployed and underemployed home owners.  </p

HARP isrndesigned to assist homeowners who owe more money on their current mortgage thatrnthe market value of their home and are thus unable to qualify for arnconventional refinance.  Refinancing throughrnHARP, which is administered by the Enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, canrnpotentially reduce homeowners’ mortgage rates and remove some of the incentivesrnfor a strategic default.  </p

ActingrnFHFA Director Edward J. DeMarco that that the program will continue operatingrnin the same manner as it has since in was started in 2009 except that FreddiernMac will exempt HARP loans from their recently announced price adjustment andrnFannie Mae will conform the eligibility date to May 2009.</p

The usernof HARP more than tripled in 2010. rnDuring the year a total of 6.8 million mortgages were refinancedrnnationwide and HARP, with 621,803 loan closings, represented nearly 10 percentrnof the total.  In 2009 190,180 homeownersrnused the program to refinance.</p

To qualify for HARP you must currently have a mortgage owned orrnguaranteed by the Enterprises, have a one year history of on-time payments onrnyour loan, and owe more on your loan than your home is worth.  The loan-to-value, however, cannot exceedrn125%.  </p

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