The San Diego Harp 2.0 Program is offered on loans originally sold to the Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009. It was designed to help homeowners who have been current on their mortgage, but have not been able to refinance in San Diego because their home has lost so much equity over the last several years.
Starting March 19, 2012 there will be no Loan to Value Limit on the HARP 2.0 Program for refinances in San Diego. This means clients that have a home that is now worth $275,000, but owe $417,000 on their mortgage will be able to refinance without mortgage insurance.
San Diego HARP 2.0 Refinance Program Requirements
Let me explain the requirements of the HARP 2.0 Program. First, as stated earlier, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has to be the current owner of your loan. This is not referring to the lender who you make your monthly payment to. That is the mortgage servicer. The owner refers to who bought the loan on the secondary market. You can go to the following websites to figure out if Fannie or Freddie owns your loan: www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/, loanlookup.freddiemac.com.
The file would have to be run through either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting system and get an approval for the HARP 2.0 Program. There are no minimum credit scores and the program is more lenient on income qualifying.
On traditional conventional refinances any LTV (Loan to Value) above 80% would require mortgage insurance, which has an additional monthly fee tied to it. The San Diego HARP Program does not require mortgage insurance though if you do not have it on the current loan that would be refinanced.
If your loan does currently have mortgage insurance the HARP Program requires us to keep that mortgage insurance in place. The great thing is that mortgage insurance companies are making the process easy to transfer over the mortgage insurance to the new loan if you are using the HARP 2.0 Program to refinance.
There are many lenders who will only allow a San Diego HARP refinance with mortgage insurance if they are the current servicer, but as a San Diego Mortgage Broker, I have lenders who are allowing the HARP refinance program with MI even if they are not the current servicer of the loan.
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The HARP 2.0 Program will still work if you have a 2nd mortgage as well. We would get the current second lien holder to agree to subordinate to the first (most currently will, due to this programs availability and the fact that it puts the homeowner in a better financial position). There is usually an additional fee charged by the 2nd lien holder to subordinate, but the process has become much more streamlined.
San Diego HARP Refinance Program Benefits
The San Diego HARP 2.0 Program will also be eliminating the need for a new property appraisal if there is a reliable AVM (automated valuation model) estimate provided by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac which could save you an additional $425.
In addition, it will be eliminating certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages and lowering fees for other borrowers who refinance using the program. The termination date for the HARP Program has also been extended until December 31, 2015 .
If you would like to see how much you can save today by using the San Diego HARP program or would like to find out more information simply give me a call or fill out the Quote Form and get your free interest rate quote today from a San Diego Mortgage Broker!