President Obama’s pathetic home mortgage refinancing initiative

[Better Believe It]

Obama’s pathetic refinancing initiative
By Felix Salmon
October 24, 2011

If you’re a homeowner whose mortgage isn’t owned or guaranteed by Frannie, you’re out of luck.
If your mortgage was sold to Frannie (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) after May 31, 2009, you’re out of luck.
If you want to get out of negative-equity hell by doing a principal reduction, you’re out of luck.
If your bank doesn’t feel like participating, for whatever reason, you’re out of luck.

For many reasons it is very difficult to project the number of mortgages that may be refinanced under the enhancements to HARP, including the future path of interest rates, borrower willingness to undertake a refinance transaction and the number of lenders and servicers who choose to offer the program. Given current market interest rates, our best estimate is that by the end of 2013 HARP refinances may roughly double or more from their current amount but such forward-looking projections are inherently uncertain.

First, by the end of 2013? Never mind mortgage relief now, we’ll try and get you mortgage relief in two years’ time?

Most importantly, it doesn’t do principal reductions — if you’re underwater when you get your HARP refinance, you’ll be underwater afterwards, too. The FHFA itself, in its press release, helpfully points out that for someone with a loan worth 25% more than their house, they won’t start building equity in their home for ten years if they refinance into a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Read the full article at:

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/24/obamas-pathetic-refinancing-initiative/

Read read the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) press release at:

http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/22721/HARP_release_102411_Final.pdf

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Felix Salmon should know something about underwater mortgages

Sorry. Sometimes I can't help myself.

[Kolesar]

2. (Your vote: -1)

[TheWraith]

3. Gosh, an apologist for big business doesn't like Obama's ideas. I'm shocked.

The irony of course being that if this guy supported the plan, you'd be using it as evidence of how the megaconglomerate cheerleaders love Obama so much.

[emulatorloo]

8. Yes, what you said

[MineralMan]

4. Blog. Not News. Opinion.

This will help some people. Better to help some people than no people. Better to do something than nothing. Better to unrec, in this case, than to rec.

Pathetic? Indeed. And the beat goes on...

[tblue]

5. I heard if you've missed a payment, you are SOL.

I don't know the details, I could be off by some # of months — I heard this on the radio. If you have missed payments because you, you know, didn't have the money, you are ineligble for the program.


"Borrowers must be current on their mortgage payments with no late payment in the past six months and no more than one late payment in the past 12 months."
http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/22721/HARP_release_102411_Final.pdf

[MineralMan]

6. I think that may be correct.

It doesn't help everyone. I think this one is for people who are able to make their payments and have a history of doing so.

[emulatorloo]

7. Your endless disinformation campaign continues. I gotta hand it to you, you are

Very prolific.

[trumad]

9. What?

These are facts so where is the disinformation.

This program is bullshit.

[Better Believe It]

10. I've grown tired of your endless personal attacks against posters you disagree with.

You're now on ignore.

Bye.

[dionysus]

12. I don't know how they'll ever cope...

:rofl:

[dionysus]

11. and the campaign slogs on...

:rofl: