Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - Article by: Jeremy Redlinger - Movement Mortgage -
The White House has rolled out a new social media campaign dubbed #MyRefi, which in essence is the Home Affordable Refinance Program 3.0 (HARP 3) mass refinancing program that is designed to help all underwater homeowners refinance their mortgage at current mortgage rates. As of today, August 29, 2012, the #MyRefi HARP 3 program is not currently available but rough outlines on what is to come are beginning to make headlines in the national media.
Although there are varying estimates of the number of underwater homeowners throughout the country, the fact stands that millions of homeowners stand to save an extra ordinary amount of money by refinancing at today's mortgage rates. According to estimates from the White House, borrowers could save about $3,000 a year or save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of their loans by reducing the term and interest rate on a #MyRefi loan.
The change that will make the biggest impact from HARP 2 to HARP 3 is the fact that your current mortgage will not need to be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac in order to qualify for the program. This change alone opens up the doors to millions of responsible Americans who have paid their bills on time and deserve to refinance their homes at a cost that has zero impact on taxpayers and will benefit the economy by freeing up cash for borrowers to spend.
On paper the #MyRefi HARP 3 program sounds like a simple common sense plan but the nitty gritty truth is that gaining enough political support for more government involvement in the housing and mortgage market is like pulling teeth. You also have to keep in mind that the banks taxpayers bailed out have to commit to lending the money and an institution to guarantee the loans still needs to be found. It will take some time to get all the pieces in place but the #MyRefi HARP 3 program is gaining traction.
The basic guidelines to the #MyRefi HARP 3 mimic the HARP 2 in which a borrower must be current on their mortgage obligation with no late payments in the previous 6 months, have less than 20 percent equity in the home and is likely to have a date set in which your loan would need to be refinanced in order to qualify. Outside of those guidelines I am sure lenders will all have their own overlays to the program which will limit loan to value ratios, debt to income ratios and even transferring of Private Mortgage Insurance.
We don't know when #MyRefi Home Affordable Refinance Program 3.0 (HARP 3) will be made official, or if it ever will, but as history has showed us, economic recovery begins with the housing market.
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