On March 26th, the Obama Administration announced changes to the HAMP or Home Affordable Modification Program, as well as a new FHA (Federal Housing Administration) program to help stabilize the housing market. These changes are aimed at helping homeowners who owe more on their loans than their home is worth – also known as underwater, to prevent foreclosures and work with lenders to help homeowners keep their homes. Both programs are said to be available sometime this fall.
On the HAMP side, the government plans to increase incentives that are already in place by using TARP or Troubled Asset Relief Program funds. With these changes, homeowners will also be able to use their unemployment income to qualify for a temporary loan modification. If you are in danger of not making your mortgage payments, be sure to contact your current servicer to see if you qualify for a loan modification which may lower your payments.
The other major change to help homeowners is a new FHA program to assist underwater borrowers. Under this new program, incentive will be created for lenders to forgive principal loan amounts and release subordinate mortgages using TARP funds. This progress may involve many parties as it requires coordination between the loan originator and the lien holder, which is the lender doing principal forgiveness.
While the FHA program is voluntary for lenders, this could still be a great option for many homeowners, so be sure to talk to your lender this fall if either of these programs apply to your situation.
3 Ways to Contact Us
- Call (800) 687-0522
- Chat Online Now!
- Get Started Online
WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
I am very upset at reading all the programs to help people with their mortgages, because I see nothing to help people whose homes are worth 80% less than the day they bought them, yet still have to pay the mortgage on the full price they paid for it.
I, for one, put a huge down payment on my home…using my savings up and as of now, it has all but 10% been lost in this real estate catastrophe. I bought at the beginning of 2008 and I am not qualified for any of the help President Obama has got out there. I sort of come in on the borderline for anything he proposes, and I’m living on a fixed income !!
Is it any better to live on a fixed income than it is to live on unemployment ?
Seems like it when I read about this stuff going on & it’s rules.
My home is worth a tiny bit more than I owe on it, but only because I paid so much down for it. If I hadn’t used up my savings to make my payment lower for me each month, right now I would be getting this assistance. But I’m not because I was hard working & I sacrificed.
How can this be fair ?
If I didn’t put that down payment on my house, the value of it would be very far under what my mortgage is. Exactly $80,000 under. Wouldn’t I qualify for help if this were so ? You bet I would.
Your telling me now that because I paid a big down payment when I bought it…I get punished & left out of all the help. How stupid & unfair can this be ?
There should be a rider to this proposal/law for people like me who have done this in order to afford their payments on their homes when they bought them.
I see no provision for anything like it.
That isn’t fair to help people who didn’t use any of their savings to buy a home, yet now because their loan to ratio value is under the limits, they get a break & I don’t.
How can anyone think it’s fair to give financial assistance to homeowners who had no or low down payments on their home, but have been affected by the downturn the same as I’ve been ?
This tells me that people who bought homes without down payments, or very low ones…. will be getting mortgages that are less than when they purchased, bringing what they owe to a more equal level to make payments on….while I have to pay my full debt & lose all of my savings that I used for a down payment on my home. NOT FAIR !!
How were these people given mortgages when they can’t afford to pay them ? They weren’t able to pay them when they first purchased either, yet the banks gave them a loan anyway. So I get punished ? Geezzzzzz…..it’s making think very hard about whether or not I’m proud to be an American anymore.
Now the government is bailing the banks out again, the way I see it. And these people should have never been given a mortgage in the first place. They never had enough income to really qualify for what they borrowed. It’s no matter that the value has dropped so much to them.
I realize that there are a few who lost their jobs after buying as home & can’t get back on their feet yet. I’m not speaking of these people. I think the majority of the ones who’ll begetting the help are of another kind. The kind who don’t deserve the help.
I watched friends both lose their jobs together almost & they lost their home. But they put themselves in that position before they lost their jobs.
They lived far above their means for years & had credit card debt beyond belief that they couldn’t pay either. But you know…their bank kept giving them refinancing anyway. So their mortgage debt kept creeping higher & higher, until it got so high, they couldn’t borrow enough to make the payments or buy groceries.
I resent people who do this. Pile up the bills until they can’t pay. Then somehow they manage to get free assistance & get out of paying their debt by crying a few tears.
Whose paying for their debt now ? ME. that’s who. And everybody else who pays their bills. It makes me angry, even tho they are my friends.
These qualifying people out there now, probably are paying for a mortgage on a $200,000 loan, but their home is now worth only $120,000. So the government is going to step in & allow the banks to reduce what these people owe down to what the value of their home is now. Which is $120,000, giving them in essence $80,000 free & clear.
Compared to someone like me, who is paying their mortgage every month, even though the value of my home has gone down by $80,000 over the last 3 years & I paid a whopping $100,000 down; which is really, all of the equity I’d have on my home..if the real estate market hadn’t bottomed out.
Do they realize it will now take me at least 10 or more years, only to recoup the amount I lost since I bought my home….while the people they are helping can walk away right now & not lose a nickel ?
How can they even think this is fair ?!!?
I won’t see any equity in my home for over 10 years, if that.
This new proposal or whatever you call it is so totally unfair it makes me sick !!
It’s helping the poor get away with not paying their bills & practically giving them their homes for free.
What is this garbage ? I feel like I’m being forced to supplement their homes.
They can go get their mortgages lowered & walk away from those same homes the next day & not lose anything by it. But me…I can’t move for many years, unless the real estate market jumps back up to where it was the day I bought my home. (Only 3 years ago )Do U really think I’ll even still be alive at my age ? I want to throw up!!
If this is all from Obama, then he should be put in jail. Bad, bad decisions. Let’s help the poor & the very poor & punish those of us who scraped by & saved for years, only to have it taken away by poor management of the banks & the government.
This is fair ?
These “underwater” homeowners, as they’re calling them, who can’t pay their bills aren’t losing a dime, and the bank or the government is going to give them more of a break ?
What the heck is going on in this country ?
I think something or somebody has to stand up & change this now.
If I have to sit here & watch my neighbor get this break while I’m struggling to keep up with my payments because I’m so honest & hard working, it’s going to make me very ill.
Correction. I’m already very ill, and I live on fixed income that isn’t very comfortable to live on. I barely survive, but I sure as heck pay my bills.
Nobody has ever assisted me to pay my bills. I make ‘em, I pay ‘em. That’s the way it should be.
Since it was the fault of the banks messing up, I think the banks should be helping me too. But I know they won’t because according to the Obama administration, I’m not one of those “underwater” homeowners. And why am I not ? Because I used up all my savings for a down payment on my house so my payments would be affordable for me.
I apologize for repeating myself in this comment, but I am so angry with this new idea, that I don’t know what else to do.
We didn’t cause this economy to faulter. The banks did. It should be a debt on their backs, not mine !!
Why should I need to suffer & struggle to cover their butts ?
I know saying all of this isn’t going to help me one bit. I just had to say it over & over again because I still cannot believe it !!!
I bet you even some of the homeowners who will be getting helped by this will agree with me that I’m getting screwed.
If there’s anyone else out there who’s in the same spot I’m in right now, let it out here so they can see it.
Tell them how wrong what their doing is & how unfair it is to people like me/us.
You know…even on my low fixed income, I still have to take about $300. a month out of it, just to pay my taxes. How much do you think I have left to live on after that ? Not much !!! Yet because of this stupid proposal/law…& the bank caused real estate market crash, I will suffer more & more.
I’ll end this here, tho I want to keep shouting it out until someone will listen & correct their mistakes. But I know all I can really do…is hope.
Feels pretty hopeless at this point tho. Bet a lot of you out there would agree.
Especially if you were in my shoes right now.
Every time I look at the value of my home, I cry in pain.
My bank account has shriveled up into nothing & I have nothing to look forward to when I sell my home. Nothing but an $80,000. loss as of now. May get a lot worse before it’s over too. Let’s sit & watch it take everything away from me…What other hope do I have ?
Every nickel I put into this house now, will all be lost. So I’m trying to avoid it. I want to make improvements so badly, but why ? It will only all be lost with the rest of my money.
My home could use some extra insulation to help lower my heating bills. I got someone to come, but all they did was leave me with damage that I’ve been trying for over a year to get an answer to. I doubt they’ll ever get back to me.
So again…it will be my loss.
I’m disgusted to be an American today. I may live a lot better than those in the middle east, but this is America…I Should be !!!!
If there is anyone out there whose read my comment & is in the same boat…please write too.
I feel so alone right now. I feel like I’m the only person in America to feel like I’m being screwed. I just can’t be…You must be out there somewhere.
And if Obama is reading these comments, he had better rethink his proposals & decisions to include me & others like me. If he doesn’t…there will be NO votes for him in the next election for sure.
Okay…bye for now all. I’m done.