I am doing my best to figure out who is in and who is out in the new mortgage plan announced by President Obama. Are you qualified if you meet any one requirement? Or, is it a more like an equation--if this, then that. For example, if your ratio of income to mortgage payment exceeds 31 percent
you are in? Or is it, if your ratio exceeds 31 percent, and your house is only down a little bit, and you made a substantial down payment when you bought the house
you are in?
I did figure this out---the key words throughout the announced information so far are "you may be". So you
may be eligible but you might not find out until March 4.
Sooner or later I will figure this one out, "
This initiative will also include borrowers who show other indications of being at risk of default."The Obama Administration’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan will offer assistance to as many as 7 to 9 million homeowners making a good-faith effort to stay current on their mortgage payments, while attempting to prevent the destructive impact of foreclosures on families and communities. It will not provide money to speculators, and it will target support to the working homeowners who have made every possible effort to stay current on their mortgage payments. Just as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act works to save or create several million new jobs and the Financial Stability Plan works to get credit flowing, the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan will support a recovery in the housing market and ensure that these workers can continue paying off their mortgages.
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Who the Program Reaches:
The housing plan President Obama unveiled today could directly help up to 9 million people.
Focusing on Homeowners At Risk: Anyone with high combined mortgage debt compared to income or who is “underwater” (with a combined mortgage balance higher than the current market value of his house) may be eligible for a loan modification. This initiative will also include borrowers who show other indications of being at risk of default. Eligibility for the program will sunset at the end of three years.
Reaching Homeowners Who Have Not Missed Payments: Delinquency will not be a requirement for eligibility. Rather, because loan modifications are more likely to succeed if they are made before a borrower misses a payment, the plan will include households at risk of imminent default despite being current on their mortgage payments.
Common Sense Restrictions: Only owner-occupied homes qualify; no home mortgages larger than the Freddie/Fannie conforming limits will be eligible. This initiative will go solely to supporting responsible homeowners willing to make payments to stay in their home – it will not aid speculators or house flippers.
Special Provisions for Families with High Total Debt Levels: Borrowers with high total debt qualify, but only if they agree to enter HUD-certified consumer debt counseling. Specifically, homeowners with total “back end” debt (which includes not only housing debt, but other debt including car loans and credit card debt) equal to 55% or more of their income will be required to agree to enter a counseling program as a condition for a modification.
How the Program Works
The Homeowner Stability Initiative has a simple goal: reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels. This program will bring together lenders, servicers, borrowers, and the government, so that all stakeholders share in the cost of ensuring that responsible homeowners can afford their monthly mortgage payments – helping to reach up to 3 to 4 million at-risk borrowers in all segments of the mortgage market, reducing foreclosures, and helping to avoid further downward pressures on overall home prices. The program has several key components:
Shared Effort to Reduce Monthly Payments: Treasury will partner with financial institutions to reduce homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments.
- The lender will have to first reduce interest rates on mortgages to a specified affordability level (specifically, bring down rates so that the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment is no greater than 38% of his or her income). Next, the initiative will match further reductions in interest payments dollar-for-dollar with the lender, down to a 31% debt-to-income ratio for the borrower.
- To ensure long-term affordability, lenders will keep the modified payments in place for five years. After that point, the interest rate can be gradually stepped-up to the conforming loan rate in place at the time of the modification. Note: Lenders can also bring down monthly payments to these affordability targets through reducing the amount of mortgage principal. The initiative will provide a partial share of the costs of this principal reduction, up to the amount the lender would have received for an interest rate reduction.
“Pay for Success” Incentives to Servicers: Servicers will receive an up-front fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established under this initiative. Servicers will also receive “pay for success” fees – awarded monthly as long as the borrower stays current on the loan – of up to $1,000 each year for three years.
Responsible Modification Incentives: Because loan modifications are more likely to succeed if they are made before a borrower misses a payment, the plan will include an incentive payment of $1,500 to mortgage holders and $500 for servicers for modifications made while a borrower at risk of imminent default is still current.
Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current: To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time under the modified loan, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance on the mortgage loan. As long as the borrower stays current on his or her payments, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
Home Price Decline Reserve Payments: To encourage lenders to modify more mortgages and enable more families to keep their homes, the Administration -- together with the FDIC -- has developed an innovative partial guarantee initiative. The insurance fund – to be created by the Treasury Department at a size of up to $10 billion – will be designed to discourage lenders from opting to foreclose on mortgages that could be
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Sooner or later I will figure this one out, "This initiative will also include borrowers who show other indications of being at risk of default."
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