SearchExclusive.com

Refinance your current home loan through HARP

A mortgage-refinancing program, Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP or ) is offered to homeowners who have an outstanding loan balance on a house that is less than the value of the home itself. HARP was put forward in 2009 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to make homeownership affordable and deal with the housing downturn strategically. The refinancing program is beneficial for homeowners who are amidst a financial crisis and are thus struggling to pay their mortgage.

If an applicant has a good payment history, they should consider refinancing through HARP. A point to note here is that their current mortgage should not incur any extra interest due to overdue payments and if they owe more than what their house is worth.

Here are some advantages of refinancing your home loan through HARP:

One of the main advantages of using HARP is that it requires minimum paperwork when compared with other traditional refinancing options, easing the application process
It also allows you to transfer your current mortgage to an adjustable-rate mortgage in a fixed-rate loan, which will eventually reduce the mortgage rate and shorten the loan term
You can also bundle costs into a new home loan using HARP. Bundling costs refer to combining various elements in your current loan costs and combining it into a single mortgage
You can apply for HARP to lower the mortgage rate incurred against your home loan.
The refinancing program can help you shorten the loan term
HARP does not require the applicants to get an appraisal or have a loan underwriting from their previous lenders
The applicant has an increased chance of getting their loan refinanced as HARP does not have underwater limits

Here are the eligibility requirements if you are planning to refinance your current mortgage through HARP:

You should not have more than one late payment instances in an entire year on your current mortgage.
You are also allowed to refinance only those homes through HARP that are their primary residence, a single-unit second home or an investment property.
The previous loan of the applicant should be owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie May and should have been originated on or before May 31, 2009.
The current mortgage of the applicant should have a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio that is greater than 80 percent. LTV is the ratio used by financial organizations to evaluate the risk assessment before they can approve a mortgage

You can find tools to calculate your LTV on HARP’s loan look-up tools that are available on their official website.

HARP’s rehashed eligibility criteria can increase your chances of getting a refinancing program; however, you cannot enroll to refinance your home through HARP more than once.

There are significant changes made to HARP since it was first introduced. Property appraisal requirements were waived under certain circumstances and risk fees for borrowers with shorter amortization (spreading payments over multiple periods) were eliminated.

HARP lets you acquire mortgages with competitive interest rates and lets you to switch from adjustable to fixed-rate mortgages without requiring a minimum credit score.

The applicants will go through a series of applications approval and closing process and application approval on their current mortgage, once they qualify to refinance their home through HARP.

Mentioned below are steps that will help you determine if HARP meets your specific needs:

Step 1
The applicant needs to gather all their financial information such as mortgage statements and income details.

Step 2
Once the financial details have been gathered, the applicants are required to contact their current mortgage company if they have an approved lender that can help them refinance their current mortgage. The lender might already have their current loan file since their loan was owned by Freddie Mac and Fannie May. However, the applicants might be asked to provide necessary information to verify their current source of income.

Once the applicant has gathered all the information from their current mortgage company, they will be required to contact a HARP lender through a list of HARP-approved lenders that is available on the official website. These lenders can help them determine if they are eligible for HARP.

Step 3
Once approved, the applicants are required to go through the application and closing process.

If a lender says that the applicant is not eligible for a refinance, they can speak to a HARP specialist if there are other ways that they can be eligible for a HARP refinance program.

There are many fraudulent schemes that are operated under the name of HARP, which could cost you thousands of dollars or even your home. Be aware of anyone who asks you to pay a fee in exchange for counseling services through HARP. Make sure that you don’t sign over the deed of your property to any organization unless it is working directly with the mortgage company that is helping you reduce your debt.

Related Reading

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Most of the dogs do not have a food fuss and may eat almost anything that you feed them. Dogs are not choosy at all when it comes to food and nutrition. Hence, it is important to make sure that the food that you are purchasing for your dog is healthy. The landscape of dog food has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent times. There is a wide variety of options to choose from in the online and offline market. Given the wide range of options that are available today, buying the best dog food might seem to be a confusing task indeed. All the commercial pet food that is available in the market today is regulated by the FDA. Therefore, most of the products do contain nutritious, healthy, and safe ingredients. But it does help to know certain basic factors you should look for while buying food for your dog. Prioritize on the nutritional guarantee The best dog food, which meets the dog’s needs adequately has a statement written on the label of the product, from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Buy from some of the best dog food brands, such as Fromm Family Foods, Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and The Honest Kitchen.

Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

The most important aspect when designing your kitchen is deciding on the type of cabinets. In addition to functionality, kitchen cabinets score on aesthetics as well. Once the layout is planned, you can go ahead with choosing the cabinets. If you’re remodeling your home or just the kitchen, what you need to consider are the types of cabinets that furnish your kitchen. Here are a few types of kitchen cabinets that you can choose from. Base cabinets These kitchen cabinets are mounted on the floor and they are placed after checking out the floor plan. A major part of your job in the kitchen is on these base cabinets, which hold and support the countertops. These base cabinets are combined to carve out kitchen islands. A number of base cabinets are fused/set against one another and installed on site. The base cabinets, in addition to supporting the countertops, serve as drawers to hold your cutlery and appliances. Wall cabinets Mounted on the walls, these cabinets can store everything, right from your cookware to cookbooks. In terms of design, they offer utmost flexibility. Wall cabinet kitchen is available in varying heights, multiple widths, and custom depth options. This customization helps you to fit in your stuff of varying shapes and sizes into the wall cabinets.

How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

In today’s world, where you are presented with over a dozen choices for every item you would purchase for your own kitchen, it is not surprising that you have an equal number of options for your dog’s food. However, choosing the perfect brand and formula for your dog out of a range of options in the market is not an easy job. Your pet depends on you and trusts you to make the right choice for them. Therefore, it is imperative that you do your research about the products available in the market, understand what your dog needs, know what might be your pet’s problems, and then make a sound decision. What is a sensitive stomach? Dogs are known to have voracious and large appetites. Keeping that in mind, it is normal to assume that they have strong stomachs. They can eat close to anything be it sweets, bakes, chewy gum, hard leather or even woolen socks for that matter! It always so happens that the strongest of them are prone to allergies and can develop a disorder which is medically translated as a sensitive stomach. This might be due to a sudden change in the food habits or even due an infection picked up from somewhere.

All You Need to Know about Cat Food

For cat owners, cat food is a hot topic. You need to think about it in different aspects. The best thing is to know which ingredients are good for cat food and which are harmful. If you are aware of this, you can get an idea about the quality of the cat food just by going through the label. It is always sensible to stick to one brand of cat food. However, you may also want to try and prepare cat food yourself. There are also various options for wet cat food as well. Cat’s love for fish is universal, so you can do without going for expensive cat food. Nevertheless, whether you buy it or prepare cat food at home, you need to ensure that the food contains enough nutrition and calories. You would need to have some idea about the ingredients that must be present in cat food and make a worthy selection for your cat. Basic ingredients present in good cat foods Cats need a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and active; they need various vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and oils. The following is a brief explanation of the basic ingredients that should be present in cat foods.