360 Mortgage Group notes that a significant opportunity remains for borrowers nationwide to take advantage of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0, which went into effect in March 2012. “HARP 2.0 has been very successful in enabling a large number of homeowners to refinance at historically low interest rates, and 360 Mortgage continues to see growth in the number of borrowers looking to refinance under this program,” said Mark Greco, president and founder of 360 Mortgage Group. “However, less than one in four eligible borrowers under the HARP 2.0 guidelines has taken advantage of this important program. There remains a significant opportunity for HARP 2.0 to benefit additional American homeowners, many whom continue to struggle, and positively impact the US economy.”
Lender Processing Services (LPS) recently reported that about 2.6 million Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans may still be eligible for refinancing under HARP 2.0. These loans fit the general HARP requirements and 50 percent have prime credit scores of 720 or above, including 670,000 with interest rates above six percent. LPS estimates that another 10 million mortgages may be eligible for traditional refinancing.
President Obama declared in his State of the Union address on February 12, 2013, that there are still too many families with solid credit who have not been able to refinance their homes, placing unnecessary financial burdens on them and holding our entire economy back.
“There remains a large group of homeowners with higher than current market interest rates for whom even HARP 2.0 is still out of reach. In the current versions of the regulation, the borrowers falling under the poor underwriting guidelines programs known as Alt-A and Subprime have been excluded. Consequently, HARP 3.0 is in order,” said Greco. “HARP 3.0 would be an opportunity to not only expand refinances to include these borrowers who have been diligent on their payments, but also to continue to rebuild our nation’s economic strength.”
