Update - Home Affordable Refinance Policies Change

In an attempt to broaden the market for refinances (due to the fact that many who have the need do not qualify) Fannie Mae has made the following announcement -

This change is in an effort to increase the population of eligible borrowers for the Refi Plus manual and Desktop Underwriter options and provide more lender flexibilities which include:

As quoted from Fannie Mae' recent published info -

• "Adding existing loans with various forms of credit enhancement other than borrower-paid mortgage insurance coverage to the pool of loans eligible for Refi Plus (DU or manual). Loans with lender-paid mortgage insurance coverage (which are already eligible for the manual Refi Plus option) will now be eligible for DU Refi Plus. Loans with credit enhancement that is necessary to meet Fannie Mae's minimum requirements for loans with LTV ratios exceeding 80 percent remain ineligible.
• Allowing more flexibility for lenders to optimize our manual and DU Refi Plus options. A lender that is the servicer for the existing loan will be able to use the manual Refi Plus option if the refinance was already underwritten through DU, as long as the loan case file:
  - Was underwritten as a DU Refi Plus loan, received an Approve/, EA-I/, EA-II/, or EA-III/Ineligible recommendation, and the only reason for the ineligibility is an excessive debt-to-income ratio; or
  - Was not underwritten as a DU Refi Plus loan because DU was unable to match the subject property address or the borrower(s) Social Security number entered on the loan application to an existing Fannie Mae mortgage loan in the DU Refi Plus database.
  The scenarios under which servicers of existing loans may use the manual Refi Plus option will be identified by new DU messages implemented in the DU Version 7.1 June Update release the weekend of June 27, 2009".

In the past, we have all heard and seen attempts to put the industry "back on track" with much fewer then expected results. The many recent announcements within our current administration have made several statements re: people that are "behind at least 3 payments" can benefit. Many of us in the industry have found that this has done very little to help. Others may disagree. This is not meant to cause a debate about the current administration but rather to get people thinking.

If you have seen areas that have helped you with your continued success, please feel free to share and best of luck.