Before You Even Consider a Loan Modification. Investigate the HARP 2.0 Refinance Program.

A modification can ruin your credit!!!  Most of the lenders/banks will not consider a modification until your mortgage is past due 90 days.  There is a slim to none chance they will complete the modification, and you are left with an insurmountable amount of past due payments and heavily damaged credit. Investigate the HARP 2.0 programs before your make the decision to attempt to modify your mortgage. Independent Financial Center is not a lender.  Independent Financial Center has “referral” relationships with top lenders in the industry to meet each client’s individual needs and there is no direct charge for our service to the individual borrower.  Contact us today for your free evaluation. Call 800-682-8875

Program Overview

According To Fannie Mae's website:

Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) Enhancements:

In October 2011, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac announced enhancements to the Home Affordable Refinance Program that make it easier for lenders to refinance HARP-eligible mortgages. Fannie Mae released details about the changes on November 15th, 2011.

A critical part of Fannie Mae's role in the Making Home Affordable® Program is the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), available for refinances of existing Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mac) loans. The goal of the refinance effort, as announced by the President, is "to provide access to low-cost refinancing for responsible homeowners suffering from falling home prices."

The expectation is that refinancing their mortgage will put responsible borrowers in a better position by reducing their monthly principal and interest payments or moving them from a more risky loan structure (such as interest-only or short-term ARM) to a more stable product. Our solutions provide mortgage refinances with no limits on LTV, and mortgage insurance flexibilities.

In proposing the new plan, the president acknowledged that efforts initiated in February 2009 hadn't worked as planned:

"The housing plan we launched a couple years ago has helped nearly 1 million responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages and save an average of $300 on their payments every month. I'll be honest -- it didn't work at the scale we'd hoped. Mortgage rates are as low as they've been in half a century, and when that happens, homeowners usually flock to refinance their mortgages. But this time, too many families haven't been able to take advantage of the low rates. Falling prices locked them out of the market."

Home values have declined in many states since the peak in the housing market. According to CoreLogic, over 10.7 million mortgages are underwater.

Underwater mortgages, particularly with higher than average interest rates, have proven to be more likely to default. In an effort to stabilize Las Vegas home prices and decrease foreclosures, HARP 2.0 is designed to help borrowers with negative equity refinance into traditional loans.

Recent changes to the HARP Program removed the maximum percentage amount that a property can have an underwater mortgage. Prior to December 1, 2011, the maximum amount that a property could be underwater was 125% of the loan balance.

This means that if a property is valued at $100,000, the maximum that the mortgage being refinanced would be $125,000 or 125% of $100,000. This would also be referred to as 125% LTV or loan-to-value.

In addition to eliminating the cap on Loan-to-Value, the program has reduced or eliminated many additional fees to refinancing that were previously in effect.