BOA approved me for MHAP. I currently have interest only 80/20 first mortg. 6.625% 2nd mortg 7%. My first is due refinancing 2012. Listen to this. BOA was refinancing my 1st. for 5.78% 30 year fixed with $12,000.00 in fees and closing cost wrap around in my already upside down home value.I was told don't worry, you don't need any cash on closing everything will be included in the refi.I was supposed to closed on Saturday and they fax me the HUD paperwork and I called them back to cancelled it because not just my mortgage will go up $400.00 a month more my whole mortgage will also go up $12,000 more.Thanks a million to everyone that voted for Obama. Now we are all reaping the fruit of your cleverness.

What if my lender refuses to participate? WE purchased through a mortgage company that is basically realter or realter group and they informed us they are not going to participate in this program. With my reduced hours this ove 8% interest rate is killing me...What can I do to get this help?

I heard about this program from Clark just this morning before I went to work on WSB radio's morning show with Scott Slade. When I got home from work I went to ClarkHoward.com and got the link to MakingHomeAffordable.gov. I went through the process and called my lender, Chase. They could not help me but they directed me to Quicken Loans.

I am currently in a 30 year FHA backed loan at 6.5%. A wonderful lady named Laura got me refinanced for 15 years at 4.5% -- a 2 point decrease.

I am like many homeowners out there. I am blessed to still be working and am current on my mortgage. I have not missed a payment but am dealing with negative equity in my home which was making it hard to refinance.

I was skeptical but I had nothing to lose. The whole process took about 2 hours - an hour over the phone and an hour to receive and send documentation. My payments will be higher by only $120 per month.

This is my praise report. Thank you Clark for letting me know about the program.

I will be providing Laura's info to my friends and family.

I am very concerned about a group of homeowners who are not going to be helped with any of this! I am one of those homeowners whose home has lost value (no fault of mine) and cannot refinance and get a lower rate! What am I to do? Wait until the market gets better and then rates go back up??

I have a Jennie Mae loan with countrywide. I tried contacting them this morning regarding the home affordable refinance. I a current on my mortgage but my interest rate is high. I was hoping to lower the interest rate.

I was informed that my Jennie Mae loan does not qualify, as they are only working with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loans.

I thought Jennie Mae was part of the Mae family. Does anyone out there in cyberspace know if Jennie Mae is part of the home afforadability refinance program.

thanks.

My loan is with Countrywide and I am currently waiting to see if they will grant me a modification. What should I do if they deny me? I am behind about 7 payments, but still paying everything I can about $800-900 per month.

Our loan goes up every year because of our escrow. We need to lower our rate or payment by 100 dollars. We tried to go with loan modification but they want to charge us 3000. I have a Jennie Mae loan and bad credit so I can't refinance. Can you help?

my house loan is 11% I have 94 payments left I have been Late 3 times this year cant get the Bank to lower ins. rate 8% flex is the best they will do HELP!

This bailout will NOT work for 9 million people/homeowners unless banks take the hit. This bailout is tokenism and won't solve or correct the issue.
I used to work in the mortgage industry in the '90s and we checked credit scores, employment, verified income, kept ARM's to those that were temporarily to be housed due to a job transfer and we even DENIED people. We had the guts, courage and balls to tell people NO!!!! We didn't put people in vulnerable positions nor did we use manipulative sales tactics and throw caution to the wind. We QUALIFIED people.
Borrowers did not have guns to their heads in this current crisis either. They signed at the dotted line and didn't have a lawyer with them to look over the terms and wanted to keep up with the Joneses to their detriment.
Working now at a bankruptcy law firm, I've seen the necessity of cramdowns with car loans, commercial real estate and 2nd mortgages. This will be the ONLY way to keep close to this number of people in their primary residences. Overinflated, superficial house prices, poor quality new construction and banks "creating" new "exotic" yet now toxic loan products egged this on and enticed many. Cramdowns will do what the mortgage industry claimed to promise to do a few years ago which was get people at stable payments they can actually afford BENEATH their means, not just within their means. SO WHAT if interest rates go up and borrowing becomes harder! People HAVE TO RELEARN TO SAVE MONEY, STAY OUT OF OVERLEVERAGED, COMPOUND INTERESTED DEBT AND LIVE BENEATH their means. Lenders didn't create 40 or 50 year loans with lower payments for this ridiculously hyperinflated housing market so the banks are going to reap what they sow if they don't capitulate and cooperate. Citigroup started to take the first step in accepting the real necessity of cramming down mortgages by bankruptcy judges and apparently have cowarded out. We cannot reward irresponsibility and at the same time we cannot have another 10-20 million people roaming the streets like nomads across America as ghosttowns develop from foreclosures.

Cram 'em down on primary residences for those filing chapter 13 bankruptcies into the actualized, realized market values and into payments they can live beneath their means with and allow them no more unsecured credit for the next ten years. This is why bankruptcy is legal relief for those with zero other options due to job losses and hopeless indebtedness, and yes, even risky, stupid decisions be it by a borrower or a lender, broker, agent or bank.
Cramdowns by bankruptcy judges are the only way to come even close to successfully remedying this colossal disaster.
Albert Einstein said compound interest was the greatest invention by man. The banks and lenders until recently proved him right. Now, I reflect on a t-shirt I saw one time that said "WINNING IS DYING WITH YOUR CREDIT CARDS MAXED OUT!" Sadly, that has proven to be true also!

Hi Dale, you're exactly right. People did not buy homes for their families,at least not long term, instead they invested in the real estate market. With any investment, comes risk. There are no guarantees. I believe greed played a major part in most peoples decision to try and take advantage of the market. I like to gamble, but I never gamble more than I am willling to lose. As far as home values falling, it happened in the 80's. It happened to my parents, and it was a time when interest rates were somewhere between 7-13%. And you're right about people trusting their realtors/financial institutions. Just goes to show, you never know who you can really trust! Alot of people trusted Madoff, too. Nonetheless, any time a person takes a "risk" they ought to know not just what they can gain, but what they can lose as well. I am no financial expert by any means, but I was taught (by my parents) how to balance a check book, how to not spend more than I have, and how save and protect myself when the unforseen happens. It's not rocket science.

Mike,
Don't want to speak for Bobbi, but she said in her post she took an ARM to get the builder's cheap intro rate. She probably expected to refi at the end of the intro period (as you suggested), but due to foreclosures on other homes in her area she was unable to. Sounds to me like her plan would have worked except for the drop in home prices, which she had no way to forsee.

Bobbi, I would not call choosing an ARM the most responsible financial decision. You even admittedly conceded that it was a risk you decided to take. In general, ARMs are only really ever advisable if you are going to be in your home for the period of the fixed portion or less (i.e. you will be avoiding the variable period). It is still a risk, though, because if you cannot sell your home, you face the risky variable period. Why would you choose an ARM when you were building your house? I would think that building your house would be a scenario where you were planning to stay in the home for a long period. I built my house and went with a 30-year fixed because I knew that I was going to raise my kids in the home and stay for 10 years or more. I recently refinanced to a 15-year fixed at 4.45%. With excellent credit, that should have been an easy path and option for you to take, as well.

The borrowers must call their current lender ( who they are making their payments to and only the customer service number on their statement) for these modifications

To Chris and others who feel that they
deserve special treatment and especially to those who have lost jobs
or who otherwise came into bad times, it
is especially hard not to symppathize.
However, if we look back into the history of our country it was founded upon principles of people helping each other out during such periods, not upon
government intervention trying to solve any and all misfortune or calamity. In fact, The Constitution, which at this time is hanging by a thread, only gave government very specified and limited
powers none of which includes the redistribution of wealth or any other form of collectivism. That is what is meant by the term Republic, where people elect representatives to serve only during good behavior, limiting their authoriy to enact laws according to the specific Constitutional grant. This was to prevent special interests from exacting a benefit not available to others. Where a government gradually
changes what it gets into the people will always feel that they are ENTITLED
TO THE SPOILS given through legislation
such as the bailout and the people will
become as corrupt as the politicians who
try to nationalize almost every possible
enterprize. Once a person like those desiring to profit by bailout funds feels ENTITLED, it will take great courage to change one's attitude and join with others to start over again
by admitting their folly and concentrating their efforts to completely reform the system with the determination to afterwards stand on their own and to serve and help others in need privately and in that way acquire a spiritual advantage which will last into the eternities.

Anyway, that's the way I see things and I would hope that there are enough of us left who are willing to do whatever it takes to throw off the yoke of unrighteous government and living.

Fred

One more thing

Sheila Bair has said time and time again there is no way to go back and seperate people who are trouble 'through no fault of their own' and those who scammed the system According to her we just have to eat it.

And just one more thing, why does saying 'this happened through no fault of their own' justify the redistribution of wealth? I could use the same argument, 'through no fault of my own I wasn't born a Kennedy' (or a Hilton or a DuPont, etc...) There are thousands of people living in America right now who have never worked a day in their life and did absolutely nothing to deserve it except pick the right parents. It all falls under life's not fair. It's not fair for any of us. Why has someone decided that for this small group of owners who are behind in the mortgage living in America right now that we are going to level the playing field? Again, only this small group of homeowners at the expense of the other 90%?

I apologize for offending people out there. I said nothing about the unfortunate people who lost jobs. You SHOULD qualify for some assistance. And there should be no appraisals for refi's for people like Jeanette. These are the types of help that should be available out there. Not bailouts for people who couldn't afford homes in the first place. And just to clarify, we both worked when we bought our house, we simply bought a home that we could afford using only ONE income. Just because we had more income, didnt mean we had to buy a bigger house!

In the meantime what do we do when our
homes have lost so much value that we
can't refinance. So what is in store
for people like myself????

It is true that in 1895 that The Supreme
Court did hold that the Income Tax did not apply to money received by people living in the states from common
occupations (private employment) because such a tax would be a direct unapportioned tax on a person's right to work. While it is true that The 16th
Amendment subsequently ratified (questionable due to fraud) The US Supreme Court in the famous but not well-understood Brushaber case held that the
new amendment did not apply to the common man's (non-fed govt employee) increases because such a holding would created a conflict between the 16th and the existing language in The US Constitution forbidding a direct unapportioned tax in non-priviledged occupations. See losthorizons.com for a
thorough explanation of the income tax and why and how it has been misapplied and misunderstood. Concerning The Federal Reserve System, again study your Constitution and realize that nowhere is there authorized a privately created
and chartered bank which it is. Only Congress may issue money and regulate its value, money being gold or silver
and not the funny money unbacked notes
we have been using for so long. Please visit Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty
to gain more insight into The Fed and why we need to repeal the illegal and unconstitutional charter. Please get involved somehow in taking our country
back or we won't have any more fantastic
websites like this.

Fred

The banks must not have incentives to help people from losing their homes. I can't tell you how many people come into my office and ask for a month or two deferral due to job loss and these banks won't help. I have not seen one person who has been able to get a loan modification. Banks are making money on these foreclosures. MARK MY WORD!

I am currently paid up on my mortgage and my credit cards, as I have been for 30 years. I have no flat screens and drive an old (gas saving) car. Where is my check?

Our fellow citizens asked for "change" and now we're getting it. Bye-bye to America as it was intended.

Clark and friends....this bailout makes me so angry I could spit nails.

Why on earth should people get this break?

These people who are going to get 2% loans for the next 5 years, only to adjust 1% a year until it reaches the original loan rate or the current interest rate whichever is lower are going to be saving $1000s in interest while I who just works every day and pays my mortgage on time in full every month get nothing? Oh wait, I get to pay for all of this.

Where is the justice in this? Where is the fairness in this?

If I want to refi I have to pay for it and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a 2% rate.

There has got to be millions of other angry homeowners like me who are infuriated at being screwed over like this.

too many homes here are over the $7xx,xxx limit, as well as more than 5% under water.

good riddance, there is no reason home prices should have shot up 100% in just a few years and screwed everyone getting ready to buy their first place.

What is stopping someone from doing what they have to do to make sure they can no longer afford their mortgage? I am self-employed. If I stopped pouding the pavement for new business, I would be in that situation fairly quickly. After I get my 2% mortgage, I will go back to making some money and retire my mortgage that much faster! Does anyone but me see this giant loophole? How can this dishonest, destined to fail handout be stopped?

I divorced a few years ago and had the deed of the home quit claimed to me and have been unable to refinance the mortgage because of income levels dont qualify. My mortgage payment is well over half of my monthly income. I would otherwise qualify but due to not having the income to qualify to refinance or even assume I am out of luck because my ex is still on the mortgage. I guess they could try to go after my ex should I default, he will surely do his best not to pay a dime

I haven't heard if closing costs or points are required with these new plans. Can anyone clarify?

That limitation is going to shut out the markets with the highest numbers of foreclosures: California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida (perhaps Georgia heading there).Homes in Florida are as much as 50% underwater.
My thinking is that if any thing should be done it should be a refi program for everyone, with the govnt guaranteeing the amount over the value, with some sort of requirement for how long you have to stay in the home. Principal cramdown is just plain wrong in my opinion, and sets a dangerous precedent.