Home Affordable Refinance Program – HARP is a program to help homeowners whose mortgages are currently underwater take advantage of the extremely low mortgage rates and refinance their homes. If your mortgage is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (half of all mortgages are) then you may be able to significantly lower your monthly mortgage payments by checking out this program.
It is specifically designed to help homeowners:
- Hold onto their homes. Make the monthly payment more manageable by refinancing. Pretty simple.
- Take advantage of low interest rates. It is painfully ironic that mortgage rates are so incredibly low while many people suffer with the economy. This gives people who pay their monthly notes but have lost their equity due to temporarily low appraisals an opportunity to refinance at low rates.
- Benefit the economy. Low appraisals are a temporary situation that can’t improve unless the economy improves. It is a very brainy economic stimulus to reduce the monthly cost of living for homeowners and let them put those dollars back on the street.
- Continue maintaining their home. Lower monthly payment means more available cash to repair, update, and maintain your home. Poor home maintenance can cause the value to permanently drop, in a good economy or bad.
- Qualify. If you have found yourself ineligible, check again. The new standards have been modified to include a broader range of homeowners.
For the AP’s full article, read: A Guide to Administration’s New Refi Program, Derek Kravitz
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