Yeah, we know, another article on mortgage restructuring. We are not trying to bore you with details on the government’s never-ending influx of programs to help homeowners, but any information that makes it “easier” to figure out if you qualify is worth passing along!
The “Making Homes Affordable” program is not the same as the “Hope For Homeowners” program, which has been a miserable failure so far, only helping one homeowner to restructure their mortgage.
The Making Homes Affordable Refinance Program, recently announced by the Obama administration, allows existing homeowners to refinance their mortgages if they owe between 80% and 105% of the current value of their home (there is help if you are further “underwater”, as well). Details of the loan modification initiative can be found in two previous posts, one on March 5 and an list of FAQs posted on March 16.
The first eligibility hurdle to clear for program qualification is that your existing loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. As this is one of the more confusing aspects for many potential applicants, several sources have been made available to conveniently assist homeowners in determining their eligibility, as follows:
To determine if Fannie Mae owns your loan: go online to
http://loanlookup.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/
The Fannie Mae Loan Look-up tool enables mortgage borrowers to quickly determine if Fannie Mae owns their loan simply by providing a street address, unit, city, state, and ZIP code. If you prefer, you may also contact FMAE by phone at (800) 732-6643, 8 AM to 8 PM EST.
To determine if Freddie Mac owns your loan: go online to
https://www3.freddiemac.com/corporate
The Freddie Mac Look-up tool enables mortgage borrowers to quickly determine if Freddie owns their loan once you provide you full name, address, city, state, ZIP code and Social Security number. If you prefer, you may also contact FMAC by phone at (800) 373-3343, 8 AM to 8 PM EST.
If you prefer, you may also go directly to the Making Home Affordable Website, which has additional information on the program as well as the links provided above.
Your mortgage company can tell you who owns your loan, or you can utilize the online tools discussed in this post to easily determine if your loan is eligible for this program.
Readers, have any of you had any experiences, good or bad, with this program that you care to share?
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“The first hurdle is your mortgage must be underwritten by Freddie Mac, of Fannie Mae”.
This is NOT CORRECT!
There are two options/parts to the Obama plan. With the fist option/part, the the home owner refinances into a new mortgage. This is is the part that the home owners current mortgage must be under written by Freddie, or Fannie to qualify.
With the second option/part, the mortgage is restructured. With this option the home owner works out a mortgage restructure with the mortgage lender that results in lower monthly payments. It is not a new mortgage! With this option the original mortgage DOES NOT HAVE TO BE UNDER WRITTEN BY FREDDIE, OR FANNIE! Any mortgage lender is free to participate in it! All the mortgage lender has to do is to participate in it. It is VOLANTARY. It is up to the mortgage lender. However, if the home owners mortgage is underwritten by Freddie, or Fannie, then the mortgage lender has no choice. The mortgage lender must participate and must restructure the mortgage according to the guide lines of the plan.
If you are going to post information on the Government assisted programs, GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!!!
Guess if it isn’t Freddie or Fannie you’re still screwed because they don’t seem to be doing more than TRIAL mods for everyone else. I’ve been in one for months and they show no move to FINALIZE the offer they made to me. I did my part, but you know if they aren’t forced to do their part why would they? They can deny me and steal my house now?