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President Obama's Mortgage Refinance Plan

DDA Mortgage • Nov 02, 2011

Mortgage refi plan targets hard-hit borrowers

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama on Monday unveiled a changed mortgage refinance plan that would allow homeowners who have suffered steep price declines on their properties to get cheaper loans.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program, the only program specifically designed for owners whose mortgages are worth more than the value of their homes, is being changed so that more Fannie Mae- or Freddie Mac-guaranteed mortgages could be refinanced. Use external link to see if Fannie Mae has guaranteed your mortgage. Use external link to see if Freddie Mac has guaranteed your mortgage.

With house prices nationally roughly a third below their peak, there are millions of borrowers who will potentially be eligible to refinance into mortgages near record lows — the 30-year carried an interest rate of 4.11% last week — rather than the mere 894,000 borrowers who have used the program so far.

“These are important steps that will help more homeowners refinance at lower rates, save consumers money and help get folks spending again,” Obama is due to tell an audience in Las Vegas, the city with the highest foreclosure rate in the country. Nevada is the only state which cumulatively is underwater on mortgages.

The new plan does have its limitations: it will require homeowners to be current on their payments and it’s only for loans sold to Fannie or Freddie by May 31, 2009. And of course, not all loans are backed by the housing giants, though state attorneys-general are separately negotiating a settlement with the nation’s top lenders that may include an element of mortgage modification.

“Given the magnitude of the housing bubble, and the huge inventory of unsold homes in places like Nevada, it will take time to solve these challenges,” Obama admitted, according to prepared remarks.

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, estimates that refinancing could double under the program. Even so, the program would go only a small way in addressing the roughly 11 million homeowners who are underwater.

To spark interest in HARP, the program will lower fees, eliminate the current 125% loan-to-value ceiling, waive lender warranties and eliminate the need for property appraisals.

White House officials say the refinancing could save owners about $2,500 each year.

Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, said the key element of the plan is the removal of reps and warranties. “Removing reps and warranties has the potential to unleash competition for housing refinance,” Sperling told reporters on a call.

The industry embraced the initiative.

“Lenders are particularly gratified that the refinements will provide relief from some representations and warranties that lenders face when originating new loans,” said David Stevens, president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “These changes alone should encourage lenders to more actively participate in HARP.”

He cautioned that “it will take a bit of additional time” even after FHFA guidelines are introduced in November to implement them.

Politically, the plan is the start of a once-a-week effort to show the Obama administration can get things done even when legislative efforts are blocked in Congress, according to the New York Times.

For the economy as a whole, the program is seen having only a limited impact.

Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas, calculates that the program could leave to savings on the order of $2.75 billion — or 0.02% of annual disposable income.

“While the households that benefit will see an increase in disposable income of as much as 5% as a result of lower mortgage payments, in the aggregate, the direct impact is not material from a macroeconomic point of view,” she said in a note to clients.

“This would hold even if the program is more successful than the FHFA anticipates. Nevertheless, indirect benefits of the plan include further lowering delinquency rates and alleviating bank losses to a modest degree.”

Check out our other helpful videos to learn more about credit and residential mortgages.

By Didier Malagies 06 May, 2024
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By Didier Malagies 02 May, 2024
The Federal Reserve ’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) maintained its short-term policy interest rate steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% for a sixth consecutive meeting on Wednesday. “The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%,“ the FOMC said in a statement. “In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities.“ During their last meeting in March , policymakers indicated that they still envisioned three interest rate cuts in 2024. But with inflation remaining sticky and unemployment staying below 4%, these expectations are becoming less likely. Recent economic data hasn’t given the Fed confidence that inflation will continue to decline. Strong inflation data in the first quarter, coupled with a robust labor market , have postponed expectations for the first Fed rate cut. In April, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking at the Washington Forum , made it clear that rate cuts were not imminent due to the strength of the economy. The economy has maintained surprising momentum despite the current level of short-term rates. With the unemployment rate below 4%, companies are steadily adding workers and real wage growth is observable as inflation eases. Although upward movements in inflation are noteworthy, considerable progress toward the Fed’s 2% target has been made. “It’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike,” Powell told journalists on Wednesday during the FOMC’s press conference. “In order to hike the rates, we would need to see persuasive evidence that our policy stance is not sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation sustainably down to 2% over time. That’s not what we are seeing at the moment.” While Powell emphasized the unlikelihood of future rate hikes, he also remained vague about the Fed’s future interest rate trajectory. “We didn’t see progress in the first quarter. It appears that it will take longer for us to reach that point of confidence,” Powell said. “I don’t know how long it will take. … My personal forecast is that we will begin to see progress on inflation this year. I don’t know that it will be enough to cut rates; we will have to let the data lead us on that.” In a new development, the Fed announced an easing of its quantitative tightening policy. Starting in June, the rate-setting body will lower the roll-off rate of its Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion per month. This means that while the Fed will not begin selling Treasurys in June, it will allow fewer of them to mature. It will not alter its roll-off rate for mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which will remain at $35 billion per month, according to Xander Snyder, senior commercial real estate economist at First American. “The FOMC did not change the ongoing passive roll-off of its MBS holdings but did note that any prepayments beyond the continuing $35 billion cap would be reinvested in Treasuries,” Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a statement. “We expect mortgage rates to drop later this year, but not as far or as fast as we previously had predicted.” In addition, Powell reiterated the Fed’s commitment to carrying forward the Basel III endgame regulations in a way that’s faithful to Basel and also comparable to what the jurisdictions in other nations are doing. Since the March FOMC meeting, Freddie Mac’s average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has increased from 6.74% to 7.17%. Before the next FOMC meeting on June 12, two additional inflation readings are expected. “While it’s a possibility, I don’t think that we’ll see much change in mortgage rates following this Fed meeting, because the Fed has been willing to let the data lead at this stage in the cycle,” Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said in a statement. “In order to see mortgage rates drop more significantly, the Fed will need to see more evidence that inflation is slowing.”  For homebuyers and sellers, this suggests that housing affordability will remain a top consideration, possibly driving home purchases in affordable markets, predominantly in the Midwest and South, according to Hale.
By Didier Malagies 29 Apr, 2024
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