Home Affordable Refinance Program

With the rising inflation rate and poor housing market, anyone can get in a deep neck situation with their mortgage loans. In such scenario, Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) can come to their rescue. In the United States, HARP was set up by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2009 as a federal program to homeowners who are looking for refinancing their mortgage loans. These are provided to homeowners who are ‘underwater’ and ‘near-underwater’ conditions with their home mortgage loans.

The program aims at helping homeowners with mortgage refinance whose mortgage payments are current but are not able to refinance their mortgage loans due to the U.S. housing market correction.

Some of the qualifying criteria to apply for HARP are:

1. Regular payments for the past 12 months

2. The loan to value ratio at the time of applying should be more than 80 percent

3. Mortgage loan should be backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae

4. Mortgage must have closed on or finalized on or before May 31, 2009.

5. Mortgage loan has not been refinanced in the last 3 years.

So, if you have been looking to refinance your mortgage loan but was unable to do so, HARP can come to your rescue and help save a substantial amount in your monthly payments.

Mortgage Refinance factors

Refinancing a home purchase loan is a commonly availed option for many homeowners who are looking for reducing their monthly repayments. But just because it is commonly availed by many homeowners, does not mean that it is good for you as well. Whether applying for a mortgage refinancing is a good option for you or not depends on your situations.

The first important factor that you need to consider is your loan-to-value ratio (LTV). It is advisable that your LTV is at least 80 percent of your loan in case of refinancing. An equity amounting to at least 20 percent of your loan is advisable. The lower the LTV, the better chances you stand for a refinancing with better rates.

The second important aspect is the interest rate of the new loan. Calculate how much the new interest rate will prove beneficial to you and the monthly savings that you will achieve with the new refinanced loan. This will give you an idea whether you should apply for the loan or not. Check about the closing rates as well when calculating the savings. Calculating new interest rates along with closing costs will give you a detailed idea regarding the worth of the refinanced loan.

Mortgage Rules Of Thumb [Infographic]

Mortgage is one of the biggest financial concerns of Americans. This infographic titled ’Mortgage Rules Of Thumb’ has been created with the aim of imparting information about various rules to be followed about various aspects of mortgage.

The infographic adumbrates thumb rules about:

• Mortgage Affordability
• When Homeowners Can Stretch Their Mortgage
• Most Affordable Mortgage Combinations