The Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that due to the enhancements of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) released last fall, HARP refinances made up 20% of all May refinances.
The revised HARP, commonly referred to as HARP 2.0, “eliminated any eligibility ceiling on loan-to-value (LTV) ratios and some risk based fees for borrowers who refinanced into short-term mortgages and reduced fees for other borrowers. The new program also waived some of the representations and warranties required of lenders, and eliminated the need for a new property appraisal where a reliable automated valuation model estimate of value was available.” http://bit.ly/M9fpFX