If you’re not behind on your mortgage payments but have been unable to get traditional refinancing because the value of your home has declined, you may be eligible to refinance through MHA’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). HARP is designed to help you get a new, more affordable, more stable mortgage. HARP refinance loans require a loan application and underwriting process, and refinance fees apply.
Below are some of the HARP criteria:
- You have a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae Loan.
- Your mortgage was sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009.
- The mortgage hasn’t been refinanced under HARP previously unless it is a Fannie Mae loan that was refinanced under HARP from March-May, 2009.
- The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be greater than 80%.
- You must be current on the mortgage at the time of the refinance, with a good payment history in the past 12 months.
Contact your mortgage servicer (the company to which you make your mortgage payments) to see if you are eligible for HARP. Also ask your mortgage servicer if they participate in HARP. Not all mortgage servicers do. Contact Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac for help in determining if you may be eligible for HARP.
This program ends December 31, 2013.
