Recently the Obama Administration introduced two loan modification programs known as the Federal Home Affordable Modification - HAMP Program and the Federal Home Affordable Refinancing - HARP Program. Both mortgage modification programs were launched in March 2009 and provide finance adjustment help for those homeowners who qualify. These two modification programs are designed to provide homeowners facing possible foreclosure an opportunity to keep their home.

What Is The HAMP Program?

The HAMP Program is a mortgage modification helping homeowners who have suffered financial hardship including loss of a job, death of a spouse or loss of household income. It is a loan alteration help to get their home mortgage modified without having to refinance.

HAMP Eligibility Requirements

o Must be living in your property when you apply:

o Have obtained your mortgage before January 1, 2009;

o Your mortgage balance is under $729,750 for a single family residence, $934,200 for a duplex, $1,129,250 for a triplex, and $1,403,400 for a 4 unit home;

o Your mortgage payment (including principal, interest, taxes, insurance, home owners association dues) must exceed 31% of your gross monthly pre-tax income;

o You can not afford your current mortgage payment due to a financial hardship that can be documented.

What Is The HARP Program?

The HARP Program is one of the loan modification programs intended to help those homeowners who want to refinance their mortgage but cannot because their homes value has decreased enough to prevent them from qualifying for normal Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conventional lending loan to value guidelines. A loan changes with HARP may be the answer.

HARP Eligibility Requirements

o Your mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. (See below to contact Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac);

o When applying for the HARP Program loan modification help you must be current on your mortgage payments. Current is defined as not more than 30 days late on your mortgage payment in the last 12 months. If you have had the mortgage for less than 12 months, then you cannot have missed a payment;

o Your mortgage balance cannot exceed 125% of your homes value;

o Your income is sufficient to pay back the new mortgage payment;

o Your mortgage loan modification must improve the long term stability and affordability of your current mortgage.

Example: your current mortgage is a 10 year Interest Only Mortgage and you are making a loan modification to a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.

HARP Loan

Obama refinance plan has been primarily designed to make the financially grappling homeowners to pay their monthly mortgage payment successfully so that they may be able to avoid foreclosure. In case you are the home owner who is in the adjustable rate mortgage slab, not able to pay the monthly payments; home affordable refinance program (HARP) is for you. Millions of Americans as the result of financial crunch have not been consistent with their mortgage payments, and which is why federal government has come up with various programs, and HARP is one of them.

Most of the home improvement programs are quite effective in stopping the foreclosures and saving the home. Under the unique HARP program, mortgage lenders will refinance the existing home loan to a value equal to 138 percent of your home's actual value. By doing so, the mortgage lender will be getting fixed mortgage rate and there will be no fluctuations in the interest rates. Unlike the HAMP program, a homeowner who becomes eligible under the HARP, do not essentially have to occupy the property. It means that you can go for HARP even if your primary home is lying vacant. The program also has various other conditions which the homeowner can easily judge by reading through the program guidelines. If you don't understand then you can ask your mortgage lender as well.

The HARP program has become popular for many reasons and among the borrowers who have not been able to pay for the mortgage loan. The purpose of federal HARP program is to make the home affordable for the homeowner as he/she can easily repay the mortgage without any hassles. Most of the homes are on the brink of getting foreclosed, and in this context, HARP has brought hope for the homeowners. The ultimate purpose of HARP is to avoid foreclosure of the homes so that homeowners do not lose their home and they can stay peacefully in it. The program is one of many programs which have been started by Obama administration to help the homeowners in the manner where they get off the mortgage loans quickly and easily. If you are one of those homeowners who have not been able to repay the mortgage loan, then HARP is the right option to start with. HARP program to stop foreclosure is a smart program to make financially stricken US homeowners go free of their mortgage loans.

HARP Loan Program

The Obama mortgage refinance plan has been designed to assist struggling homeowners who are find it hard to stay current on their existing monthly mortgage payments. The government program offers unique opportunity to borrowers to refinance their homes to much reduced mortgage rates. If you can qualify for the Obama refinance plan, you could take advantage of subsidies provided on mortgage expenses by the federal government.

The Obama mortgage refinance plan has been designed to assist struggling homeowners who are find it hard to stay current on their existing monthly mortgage payments. The government program offers unique opportunity to borrowers to refinance their homes to much reduced mortgage rates. If you can qualify for the Obama refinance plan, you could take advantage of subsidies provided on mortgage expenses by the federal government. Remember, this could possibly be the best time for refinancing as government grants coupled with incentives as well as significantly lower mortgage refinance rates are in action. But if you have the feeling, "How to refinance my mortgage?", here is some crucial information pertaining to the same which could guide you in your endeavor to get approved for a low fixed interest rate home refinance loan.

The qualification criteria for President Obama mortgage assistance program are quite lenient. To be eligible for deriving the benefits of the plan, borrowers need to demonstrate the financial hardships that are being faced by them and subsequent inability to maintain regularity in paying the monthly mortgage installments on existing home mortgages. Once you have filled out a request for a refinance home loan under the home affordable refinance program (HARP), as it is popularly known, your mortgage servicer would determine whether you primarily qualify for the government grants. If you are eligible for the HARP refinance loan, you could be in a much better position to secure a low interest rate home refinance loan with flexible loan repayment terms and conditions from any lender of your choice.

Typically, the Obama mortgage refinance with bad credit subsidy is supported by a massive $ 75 billion stimulus package and hence, there is no dearth of money to support your cause. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to spend some time and see if you can actually qualify for the program. But to start with, you need to find out if mortgage refinancing is the right option for you and to that effect, it could be always better to get expert help that is available online. A mortgage specialist can definitely assist you by providing you with a cost-benefit analysis which is critical and takes into account the status of your current home mortgage loans. If you meet the HARP requirements, you automatically qualify for a mortgage refinancing solution at absolutely no costs.

Today you can find many companies online that guide distressed borrowers in exploring their home refinancing loan alternatives. However, it could be vital for you to choose a company that is reliable as well as reputable.

HARP Loan Program