Frank A

It does, HARP only allows you to refi the first mortgage. So if the loan amount / value is under 105% then you should be OK. I talked to a lender last week, he said my house was worth 390K. I checked Zillow that day, it had me at 400K. When I called my lender for the refi this week, he had me at 360K. They use the latest comps, figure out price per square foot, get your square footage and multiply. Not sure if they look at the foreclosures as part of the comps though. Just call your lender, they can help you through it, and it can't hurt, the worst thing they can tell you is no. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Hey Snookums... HARP is the Obama plan that passed congress earlier this year. I owe a total of 380k between both mortgages. 337k on the first. Zillow has me at 400k, Chase has me at 370k. I believe the home is worth at least 410... Neither here nor there... The whole point of th HARP plan is to help people who are underwater and who cannot refi conventionally. My lender (Chase) said that I could only refi the first, and only through them. ??? I believe your lender has to refi you if you meed the criterion. There is some formula they use, and I think that the refi can take place if you are underwater by a certain amount only (IE... I believe if your first mortgage is under or at 105% of the home's value). You have to be current on your mortgage, has to be your primary residence, you have to had purchased before Jan 2009, can be no liens on the property etc etc etc... The best way to do it is to just call your bank and see, it can't hurt. BTW... DTI did not matter in my case, they did not ask me to verify income, or ask what other debt I had, they did do a credit check however, and this affected my new rate. At 6.3%, if you meet the criterion, at the size of your mortgage, you should be able to save a few hundred dollars a month at the new rates if you keep it at 40 years, I got 5.5% down from 6.125%. If you want to go to 30 years, not sure if you payment would stay the same, your lender will do the math for you. Hope this helps!!! Good luck to you. PS... My wife took a year off after our first child, worked part time, took another 6 months off after our second child, worked part time again, finally was able to get back full time since then hence the salary increase.

Thanks again CB... I called chase, they refi'd me at 5.5 from 6.125. They did this through HARP... They said my home was worth 370,000, not sure where they got this from... but I digress... The refi saves me 125 a month, they fast tracked me, meaning that they are not doing a income verification, wifey's salary and credit score don't matter. I got a 5.5 rate instead of 5.375 that they originally quoted because my credit score dropped from 688 from 747, not sure how, probably too many maxed CC accounts... They say that the refi will pay for itself in 16 months, and I'm not going anywhere so... all in all it worked out pretty well. An added benefit is that I get to skip a payment, and they also gave me a credit card with 4000 limit interest free for 1 year that I can take one of my 28% cards and tranfer the balance. NICE!!! Chase gets to keep me as a customer (wage slave), I get a lower payment, and I am HAPPY!!! Thaks again for the advice, and thanks to the Obama admin!!! Let me know when you want to cash in on the beer!!!

Thanks a lot for the info CB... awesome that you would take time out to help me!!! Sems like I have a million questions, I would appreciate it if you could help further. (next time you are in NJ I can buy you a beer, and we can get high on the coal stacks in newark) Hehe!!! I did try recently to refi with a couple of different lenders... According to them, a Refi where I roll both up into one is not an option, there is not enough equity... Comps in the area (Zillow) have me at 5% equity (1st and 2nd) - 16% equity (1st only) Now... I do believe that my house is worth more than zillow says, simply because I saw lots of houses of the same style in this area when looking, my house was totally remodeled before I purchased, and I did a ton of additional work myself ( I know it is not always the best idea to have one of the nicer homes in the area, but we like it More realistic is that the house is worth 415K - 420K in my opnion. So perhaps 10% equity (1st and 2nd) - 20% equity (1st only) So why don't I just get a normal refi done and get off these boards??? When I tried to refi with one lender, they asked what my W2 was from 2008, when I told them 54K, they said I did not qualify for that mortgage with that salary. I said OK... what if we add Wifey to the loan, they said great, what is her social, when I gave it to them they saw her credit report and said no way. So I am between a rock and a hard place here... Refi just the first saves me about 300 a month (which is awesome), but I can do it without my wife on the loan, and they wont put her on the loan because of her credit score. So... can I just lie and tell them I make more? I work for a small family owned business, no pay stubs, just checks, and I can have someone write a letter with my fake salary on it. Do you think this would work? Does doing a TARP mortgage make it more lenient or something in terms of wifeys credit score or my lower salary? From what I understand, even TARP wants there to be at least 15% equity, do you know if this is correct? If I called my current lender (chase), would they be more apt to refi me via TARP? Do they have to by law if I qualify? Does TARP limit the rate to the current prime, or can chase set the rate higher? Should I contact chase first to see what they offer me if anything, or just shop around? I understand if you do qualify for TARP, you can actually take $$ out of the equity, is this correct? (Credit card bills piling up) How long would it take to refi typically? 2 months, 3 months, 6 months? All of this is a pain in the a$$... I should have just rented!!! Thanks again CB, you are the man.

OOPS, I forgot to break it out, silly me. The New Jersey air polution is getting to my brain. 2959 is the total payment, of which 2114 is principal and interest, 845 is escrow for tax and insurance. So 2114 / 4500 would be 47% ??? Is this the figure thay would try to work down to 31% ??? Do they also try to reduce the property taxes? I am confused. With so many people complaining about being denied, I just get the feeling that it is not worth even trying. I am looking for a second job, unfortunately even the local supermarkets are not hiring right now.

Due to the economy, I took a 25k pay cut in the last 2 years, depleted my savings, maxed my credit cards, and now I am getting dangerously close to not being able to make my mortgage payments. I am current on everything and have a 750 fico score... When I purchased the house 2 years ago, my W2 showed I made 80K in 2006. My wifes salary was about 20K in 2006, but since she had credit issues, we did not put her on the loan. For background... 337,000 owed on 1st mort (6.125%), 43,000 owed on second mort (7.125%) = 380,000 House purchased for 435,000, currently worth about 400,000 as per zillow. = 20,000 equity. 2008 I made 54K, wifey made 28K. This year I will make 54K, wifey making 49K. (Whew, getting better , go wifey!!!!) I have a 2959 payment on the first mortgage, I also have an interest only HELOC loan as my second mortgage for 277 a month, but I am sure this does not matter. So, currently I am making 4500 per month... wifey makes 4200 per month. 2959 / 4500 = 65% of my salary. 2959 / 8700 = 34% of both salaries. Based on the HAMP guidelines I qualify because... Primary residence, Fanny Backed, Current, Before 2009, more than 31%. Just not sure if the bank (chase) will look at both salaries or only mine? If they only look at mine, they will certainly deny me because I don't make enough by myself to pay for this house. I tried to refi to no avail via HARP cause they say even if I put wifey on the mortgage, the combination of both mortgages does not give me 15% equity, therefore it makes no sense, my total nut will still be where it is today. So... should I even bother trying to go the HAMP route, try to get reduced to 31% of our monthly combined salaries? Every little bit will help right now. My only other options are... I guess I could either default my Credit Cards (35K total - 900 per month minimums), mess up my credit in the process... Or I could consolidate the credit cards. Either way I would like to stay in the house, the economy will rebound, I am trustworthy enought to eventually pay everyone everything owed. We are just in a little funk right now. My friend just did the HAMP thing, he HAD to miss two payments to qualify as per his lender. I'd rather not do this because I am worried about foreclosure if I don't get approved. Any help would be appreciated.