HARP or home
affordable refinance program was created during March 2009. This is a program
created by the federal government of the United States of America (USA). It has
been designed with the specific intention of helping around five million people
in the country who own homes and are presently just behind their mortgage
payments or seriously behind same. It helps them refinance their existing
mortgage into a fixed loan where the monthly payments are on the lower side.
The HARP
2.0 program has helped so many people in the USA that it is hard to
keep track of it.
Till August 2011
around 894,000 borrowers had refinanced their loans by taking part in HARP.
This was far less than expected and this is why the program was rebooted in
October 2011 by the then President of the US (POTUS) Barack Obama. The aim at
that time was to help more people who seriously needed it. The new program was
named HARP 2.0. It came into effect from December 1, 2011. The beneficiaries in
this case were people whose loan-to-value-ratio was lower than 125 per cent.
Over the years, many people have availed HARP 2.0 refinance. During the first
three months of the 2012 economic year the program was also expanded to include
people whose loan-to-value ratios were more than 125 per cent.
This program was
extended till December 31, 2013. There are several areas of difference between
HARP and HARP 2.0. The changes made were quite significant indeed. The
underwater limits were made less strict than before. In some cases, they were
not even there. Borrowers had the chance to refinance their mortgages even in
case their houses had depreciated by a significant extent. This was what made
the HARP 2.0 mortgage
so popular in the first place.
In HARP the
loan-to-value ratio had been fixed at 125 per cent. With HARP 2.0 there were
instances where underwriting and appraisals were done away with. Some
homeowners were allowed to get their loans without any need for underwriting or
appraisal as such. For more information on HARP 2.0 eligibility, please visit Mortgagerefinancebadcredit.com
