The agency noted it wanted to reach out to homeowners who had other factors that could compensate for their low credit scores for a possible mortgage refinance.
Read More »FHFA Refocuses HARP Awareness Amid New Numbers
For a program that was only supposed to be temporary, HARP is still going rather strong as the Federal Housing Finance Agency makes one final push to get more homeowners refinanced.
Read More »HARP Refinances Plunge in Q3
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency third quarter Refinance Report, a total of 25,824 HARP refinances were completed between July and September, down from the 31,561 refinances completed from April to June.
Read More »Watt Announces One-Year Extensions for HAMP and HARP
Speaking at the Greenlining Institute 22nd Annual Economic Summit, Watt announced a one-year extension of the government's two affordable housing programs, which began in 2009 in response to the housing crisis. HARP was set to expire at the end of this year, while HAMP was extended last July until the end of 2016.
Read More »Freddie Mac: Refinance Activity Boosts in First Quarter
This week, Freddie Mac released the results of its Quarterly Refinance Analysis for the first quarter of this year, revealing that borrowers lowered their monthly mortgage payment and shortened their long-term payment by taking advantage unexpectedly low mortgage rates. Refinance activity accounted for 63 percent of all single-family originations.
Read More »FHFA Director Mel Watt Says HARP Can’t Last Forever
U.S. foreclosures soared in 2008. At that time, one in every 54 households was getting at least one filling notice and nearly 3.2 million foreclosures were filed in 2007. Loss mitigation programs were created in response to the crisis. Now, Watt believes the need for these programs will wind down. An estimated 3.2 million borrowers have completed a HARP refinance since it was introduced in 2009, including more than 95,000 in New Jersey, according to the FHFA.
Read More »20 Percent of Optimal Households Failing to Refinance
Houses lose out on big money when they fail to take advantage of low interests and refinance. For example, a household with a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage of $200,000 at an interest rate of 6.5 percent that refinances when rates fall to 4.5 percent will save over $80,000 in interest payments over the life of the loan, even after including all the typical refinancing costs. Mortgage rates were around 4.7 percent in December 2010, higher than the current rate of 3.5 percent. Still, many homes fail to refinance.
Read More »FHFA to Host HARP Outreach Event in New Jersey March 4
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will be trying to get the more than 20,000 New Jersey residents still eligible to sign up for the Home Affordable Refinance Program at their fifth outreach event to be held in Newark on March 4.
Read More »HARP Volume Down; FHFA Targeting More Potential Customers
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still refinancing plenty of loans through Home Affordable Refinance Program ‒‒ in fact more HARP refinances were done in December than in any other month of 2014 ‒‒ but HARP refinances are significantly down from a year ago, even if FHFA believes it has many more potential customers out there.
Read More »2014 Refinancers Expected to Save $5 Billion This Year
The refinance boom may be losing steam, but near-record low mortgage rates encouraged more borrowers to refinance in Q4, according to Freddie Mac's 2014 Q4 Refinance Report released Wednesday. Mortgagors who refinanced their loans in 2014 are projected to save on net a total of about $5 billion in interest over the next year, according to the report.
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