Mortgage Help: Who Qualifies And How To Get It

AP:

Questions and answers about the Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008, passed by Congress last weekend to try to steer as many as 400,000 struggling homeowners away from foreclosure:
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Q: What exactly will the legislation do?

A: It will allow those who qualify to cancel their old mortgage loans and replace them with 30-year fixed-rate loans for up to 90 percent of the home's current value. The FHA will insure a total of $300 billion of the loans over a three-year period.

But the decision on whether to write such a loan remains up to banks, which would have to be willing to take a loss on the existing loans in exchange for avoiding an often-costly foreclosure.

Q: Who is eligible?

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[kiki-n-bwood]

Darthdarcy you're right about the rental market. A lot of areas are having a rental property "shortage". An added problem will also be that a lot of property managers for decent homes with good schools qualify people for rentals in almost the same way they would if the person were buying (credit scores, proof of income, etc.) so the folks who've been foreclosed are *@#$ out of luck because their credit scores are in the toilet. Leaving it up to the banks to decide whether they want to use this is a huge mistake. Most homeowners in trouble will have already been foreclosed on by that time. It just proves the point that this bill was not bailout for people but banks. The only way the banks might help homeowners is because of the equity surrender but who do you think they'll help first? Do you think it will be poor family in the $50,000 house who's willing to surrender 50% of their future equity which at a 3% appreciation over 5 years would only be roughly $3900 or the $500,000 homeowner whose same 3% rate of appreciation would yield the lender an over $39,000 return of equity. The people that need the help most won't get it. Shocker. So they grease the banks' joints with HR 3221 and oops, not too many folks will actually qualify for help.

[fact finder]

You can keep your property and still have money to live on if you can qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This is , of course the last resort and you either have to be in foreclosure procedings or have at least one garnishment against you. Also it does not ruin your credit like Chapter 11 or Chapter 7.

[OldKnute]

Well Lets see!

New Loan Criterion.

Be Republican, earn 4 times your home loan monthly payment,, OR about $12,000 to $15,000 per Month for the average $350,000 Home. Belong to the,,, RIGHT,,, Church, Pay all your dues at the Country Club on time, do charity work every Christmas at the Homeless shelter, extra points for Easter or Thanksgiving, and have a spotless payment record back to the days of Jesus. On and participate and support all Local and Federal FAITH BASED Initiatives.

But how shall we PRAY?

Click Here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-g7Q7hXn7o

Yep.. that’s how.

Paaleeese.

This is a Bailout wrapped up in a housing bill for the rich.

90% of the Applicants that NEED the package, will never qualify.

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[leftLibertarian]

When will the government help me with my car payments?

[sandiegoconservative]

They won't. Unless you are extremely irresponsible, buy a luxury car way out of your price range, fail to properly read the loan documents, then complain loud enough about it.

[leftLibertarian]

Sage advice - thanks!

[darthdarcy]

There are potentially 4.2 million coming foreclosures and this will help no more than 400,000 of those it's been reported so about 1/10th of the problem...hopefully a little more than that but many many Americans will be evicted and traumatized and this will also reek havoc with the rental market...

[ErnestineBass]

I read where the average foreclosure costs a bank close to $50,000.

Add that number to the amount needed to maintain, insure and protect a vacant property from vandalism, and the banks would be smart to start working with those in arrears IMMEDIATELY.

I wonder if the banks will figure this out before thousands of families are out on the street...?

[outnow]

The lenders benefit more than the homeowners. My personal belief is that it is too little, too late. If the real estate market goes down. the rest of the economy will suffer but the subprime mess is a symptom of an ailing international and nation economic system more than a cause. I now have real estate that is worth one-half of what is was worth so I am not happy and would like to see a recovery of this class of assets. I just isn't going to happen anytime soon, if ever.