Great article in USA Today about the HARP Refinance program featuring Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters.
Bob Walters chats about the success of the HARP program and the 3 million underwater homeowners still eligible to refinance.
That means they could save some money by taking advantage of today’s record low mortgage rates, which are starting to tweak up, by the way.
Bob is quoted alongside Moody’s Analytics chief economst Mark Zandi, another leading source for economic insight.
Here’s a little bit of the article for you to enjoy:
A government program to help struggling homeowners take advantage of low interest rates helped 1.1 million borrowers last year — more than twice as many as in 2011, the government says.
The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), launched in 2009, was revamped in late 2011 to make it more attractive to homeowners and banks doing the refis.
Given those changes, HARP “is finally living up to expectations,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
Since 2009, almost 2.2 million homeowners have gotten HARP refis, the government says. On average, they’re saving about $4,300 a year on home loans, Fannie Mae estimates.
To be eligible, HARP applicants must have loans owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, have less than 20% equity and be current on payments.
Almost 3 million more borrowers may be eligible for HARP, says Bob Walters, chief economist of Quicken Loans.
He says the biggest problem is that HARP had so many false starts, people don’t pursue it, and they “believe it’s too good to be true.”
It’s not too good to be true. Just ask my sister. She’s saved a ton of dough with HARP and maybe you can too. Maybe. Just maybe. If you think you might qualify for HARP, we’d love to hear from you. In fact, you can use our HARP Qualification Tool to get started right now. Why wait? It’s only money we’re talking about.
Read the full article here: HARP program doubles mortgage refis in 2012
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