Comments on: Making Home Affordable Refinance Program Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:36:03 +0000

Eric,
I have the exact same situation as you. Have you been able to resolve anything with Chase? Any advise you could give me would be very much appreciated.
Thank you,

By: Girlie

Girlie — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:02:47 +0000

My husband lost his job and is on unemployment. We filled out all the paperwork and submitted it and was told it would take 30 days to process. It’s been exactly 30 days and we got our letter with our temporary payment quote in it. However, they only lowered our payment by a measly $100. How does $100 make up for the loss of someone’s salary? He makes $1100 less per month on unemployment. They might as well have reduced it by 25 cents…

By: Yvette

Yvette — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:21:53 +0000

Gigi- I submitted my paperwork on Aug 31, and the response I have been getting from Bank of America is that it takes 30 to 45 days. On October 20, I called again and they tell me that they will have further information on November 4th. Sometimes I feel that the banks truly do not want to help the customers. I have not heard of anyone who has done this successfully. I will have to wait until Nov to see if I will get approved. I wish you luck and the only advice I can give you is to not give up and keep calling them on the status of your application.

By: Yvette

Yvette — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:23:43 +0000

By: gigi

gigi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:56:13 +0000

I have submitted my Making Home Affordable application and all documents. How long does it take to know if I’m approved? I guess what I really want to know is how long have people actually been having to wait to find out the results?

And has anyone done this successfully? How much did their payments come down?

Thanks for any help provided!!

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:03:25 +0000

Eric – I’ve been getting the same run-around from Chase for the last 3 weeks. I’ve spoken with 8 different people at Chase about refinancing my mortgage, and 6 of the 8 times I was simply told I was “inelible” – with no explanation about why my loan was ineligible. I finally got someone on the line who explained to me that b/c Chase didn’t originate my mortgage, my loan would not qualify to be refinanced under the HARP program.

I wrote a rather lengthy and strong-worded email to David Lowman (david.blowman@jpmchase.com), CEO of home lending for Chase, and within in about 2 hours got a call back from someone named “Angie” who was going to give my complaint to their “escalation team” for further investigation.

My point to chase was that it should matter who originated the loan, especially when 2/3 of all mortgages are sold into the secondary market almost immediately. Borrowers should be considered on the basis of their entire application, rather than disqualified on a factor they have no control over.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the escalation team.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:15 +0000

Well, I called the HOPE hotline last night looking for help with Chase. They’ve been giving me some severe run-around and I’m tired of it.

I have a 7/1 ARM at 6.25%, mortgage rates being currently around 5% it’s worth it for me to refinance. I made 3 calls to chase in the last week trying to get on the program since I’m underwater like 107%. Here’s all the things I’ve been told:

1. I don’t have a fannie mae loan. (yes I do, I looked it up, made them look it up and fix it)

2. They don’t refi loans with PMI (Fannie website says yes they do)

3. My home valuation is $112k while my loan is for 214k. (Again, false, I had it appraised in the spring for $207k, and the county just appraised it at $204k for taxes)

4. Because my originator was CTX, and Chase bought my mortgage, they won’t refinance it. (Fannie site says nothing about this preventing a refi, as mortgages are bought and sold by servicers all the time).

They’re totally giving me the run-around. So the HOPE line escalation counselor is putting in a request to Chase, I’m supposed to call them next week and see what’s up. Thusfar though, the experience has been unbelievably bad. I’d change lenders, but it seems like I can’t.

By: WellsFargo Customer

WellsFargo Customer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:30:28 +0000

My first conventional 15yr interest rate is 5.25, payoff amount about $93,000. My second equaty loan 20yr interest rate is 5.75, payoff amount about $149,000. I HAVE to refinance/modify to lower monthly payments since I will pretty soon not be able to keep up with payments.
My first is backed up by Freddie, provided through Wells Fargo, while the secon by local federal credit union.
Total first and second: about $245,000 / Freddie estimated home value $218,000, so LTV (loans combined) above 80.
Credit history: excellent
Wells Fargo offered me refinance only (through gov. program) on the first/ 30yr/5.25/5.58 APR after 2.5% origination fee, translating to about $11,000 in closing cost !!!! (4% of closing cost financed with loan, the other part cash). Savings on montly payment close to just under $500.
Is anyone aware of program/bank/lender qualifid to earn trust and would refinance both loans? Even I can make saving rolling my first back to 30yr, my second is still a problem. Even more difficult to absorb for me is a feeling of beeing abused – $11,000 CLOSING COST. If I would have good savings to come up with about $7,000 cash, I probably would not be desparate to refinance all. Should Goverment have this program regulated before rolled out? My impresion is bank servicing Freddie’s loans (such as Wells Fargo in my case) are taking a full benefit while providing these re-financing services; since goverment approved them to be the only one eligible to provide this type of re-financing on Freddie backed up loans.
Thanks, in advance!!

By: Norma

Norma — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:57:28 +0000

I’m in a similar situation. I have no issue with my first mortgage since my rate on that loan is already low. My issue is with my second mortgage…8.75. Although we have no problems making our payments it just seems ridiculous that I can’t do absolutely anything to lower that rate on the second or even refinance to combine the two. My LTV for the combined is at 95%. I’ve called my bank for the second numerous times with no luck…basically, they can’t do anything for me unless I’m having financial difficulties. This is the way I’m seeing it…There is no help for responsible homeowners that manage to be conscious of living within their means. Instead, those that live beyond their means and have managed to spend the little equity they had are getting their principal’s lowered, their rates lowered beyond those that are even being offered to us with excellent credit. Here’s a perfect example…One of my co-workers lives way beyond her means, refinanced to the point that she spent over $100,000 of her equity, but yet she managed to have her mortgage modified to the point that they lowered her principal by $70,000 and recently received another letter to settle the second mortgage where she owed another $80,000 for $8,000. What is really going on here!!! This just makes me MAD!!!

By: Marita Sanidad

Marita Sanidad — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:58:27 +0000

I am the primary borrower on a loan & my boyfriend is the co-borrower. We are no longer together and we both agreed that he should be remove from our mortgage so he can purchase his own house. Can I qualify for this HARP program to remove my boyfriend from the mortgage? I do meet the other requirements for the HARP program.