White House unveils ‘Making Home Affordable’ plan

The Obama administration today released details of its $75-billion plan to stabilize the housing market by helping as many as 9 million homeowners refinance or modify their mortgages.’Two weeks ago, the president laid out a clear path forward to helping up to 9 million families restructure or refinance their mortgages to a payment that is affordable now and into the future,’ Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a news release. ‘Today, we are providing servicers with the details they need to begin helping eligible borrowers.’ The administration’s ‘Making Home Affordable’ housing plan has two main parts -- one aimed at prudent homeowners who would like to refinance into a lower rate, and another aimed at struggling homeowners seeking a way to lower burdensome monthly mortgage payments.Details of the eligibility requirements for both programs have been posted on the government’s economic recovery website: www.financialstability.gov/.

This would mean that 91% of loan holders do not qualify for part 1 because they have: -- A loan to value ratio of less than 80% and can refinance under traditional terms. -- A conforming loan but exceeds the 105% qualifier: 8% ( 182,916 mortgages) -- Both a jumbo (non-conforming) loan and a loan to value ratio of greater than 105%: 7.5% (171,761 mortgages) -- A jumbo loan and fall between 80%-105% loan to value ratio -- the jumbo loan automatically disqualifies them: 7.6% (173,160 mortgages)