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    The government would like to help you refinance with the present mortgage rates approaching 14-month low. Fewer than 670,000 homes in the US are currently eligible for a HARP loan refinance. The usual HARP refinance salvages homeowners over 30% in annual mortgage costs.

    The HARP loan program was founded in 2009 to help make homes more affordable. The US economy was in financial crisis then and the confidence of consumers was low. Big banks had just failed and the values of homes were dwindling.  c\Consumer spending was low and job growth wasn’t making any headway. The Making Home Affordable program was put in place to slow down this fall and reverse it using two elements. This programs goal is to help homeowners who couldn’t meet their mortgage payments to keep their homes. The government believed that fewer foreclosures would help steady housing and home values.

    Understanding HARP

    Contrarily to Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) was setup for homeowners who were on time with their mortgage payments but were not able to refinance due to the fact that their homes had lost equity since they bought it.

    HARP was a win-win for both the economy and consumers. There was higher household cash flow as consumers could lower their mortgage rates and pay lower mortgages. This gave them more cash to spend and help boost the economy.

    The program was a success. Over three million times since its launch have loans been converted.  HARP mortgage rates are low because the rates are related to the price of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities, and these securities are pricing near their best levels since 2013.

    However, these loans are not for everyone—they are for homeowners with existing conventional loans only. So, homeowners with VA loan, FHA loan or USDA loan cannot use HARP loan. And, even when mortgage holders meet these criteria, they cannot have been delinquent on their mortgage more than once in the past 12-month period. The mortgages that qualify for this must  generated and approved before June first of 2009.

    Many Americans would argue that HARP has not been enough, especially when we consider the insult added to injury with the nearly trillion-dollar bailout that came off the backs of American taxpayers. While HARP has resolved some issues for some mortgage holders, other programs have also been of use, while others never came to full fruition.

    Source Material:The Mortgage Experts

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