Help For America’s Homeowners

By rerockstar • April 20th, 2009

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Making Home Affordable

Part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to help the economy is the Home Affordable Refinance Program. The purpose of this program is to help the 4 to 5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac refinance their loans to more affordable rights and monthly payments in order to avoid more foreclosures.

So how do you know who owns or guarantees your loan? The program’s website, provides a “loan lookup” page that will help you find out if your loan is a part of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Arming yourself with this knowledge, you can then determine your eligibility for either the or refinance programs. If you are eligible, the site also offers steps to prepare for contacting your mortgage servicer to discuss the next steps.

No matter what you choose to do, be aware – there are several active scams out there right now involving foreclosure help. If you find yourself facing foreclosure, take the first step and call your lender. They are your first step to getting things resolved. Although they may not be willing to modify or refinance your loan, making the contact with them will help show good faith on your part. If you think you’re heading towards foreclosure, consider a short sale in order to stave off the act of foreclosure. Although you’ll walk away from your home with little to no money, you’ll avoid the black mark of a foreclosure on your credit report. A Realtor® can help you work with your lender to affect a short sale, so call one today.

Most of the loan modification scams operate on the premise of the “friendly helper” will deal with the bank for you on your behalf. Most of the scammers never make a single attempt to help you and most will require some sort of upfront fee to offset their costs. Do not give anyone money upfront to modify your home loan or help you sell your home. This is how most scams make their money – collecting upfront then packing up and leaving town. Scammers have become wise and are smart enough to set up real offices, websites, phone lines, and use business cards, signs, and even advertising. The costs of these are a drop in the bucket compared to what they can make in a short time. Please be careful out there! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

photo courtesy of Matti Mattila