US moves to help more homeowners refinance loans
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (AFP): The United States announced new steps Monday to aid more so-called "underwater" homeowners refinance their mortgages, to help them hold onto their homes and slow the erosion of housing prices.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), together with state-controlled mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said they would reduce or eliminate certain fees that had been hindering refinancings.
They will also eliminate the existing 125 per cent loan-to-home value ceiling on Fannie- and Freddie-backed mortgages, and streamline the refinancing program by waiving certain requirements that had posed challenges to participants under the original Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).