The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP)

What you Need to Know

On Monday, the federal government announced that it would revise the Home Affordable Refinance Program, also known as HARP.   The program was actually released back in 2009 and was designed to help underwater homeowners refinance, so far it’s reported to have helped less than one-tenth of the 5 million borrows it was aimed towards helping. 

The new enhancements will allow some that are not eligible able to refinance under the current guidelines, to be able to do so.  One of ways is to lift the cap that was imposed on those who owe more than 125% of what their property is worth from using the program.  More details of the new program are set to release on November 15th.

You should also know that HARP can only help those who have Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owned mortgages and nobody else.  They also have had to be owned by Fannie or Freddie by May 31st, 2009.  

For those of you who are seeking the assistance of HARP, the best place to start is with your local trusted lender.  Have them check to see if your loan is owned by Fannie or Freddie.  However, because the final changes are set to publish in mid-November, lenders may be unsure until then how to proceed until then.

Stay tuned for more updates, or email us directly if you wish to learn more of this program as more is revealed.

HARP, Home Affordable Refinance Program