Tuesday, June 19, 2012

FHA Streamline Refinancing

The government came up with a streamline way of refinancing a pre-existing FHA loan.  Here are some of the rules:

 . The mortgage to be refinanced must already be FHA insured.
 - The mortgage to be refinanced should be current (not delinquent).
 - The refinance results in a lowering of the borrower's monthly principal and interest payments, or, under certain circumstances, the conversion of an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) to a fixed-rate mortgage.
 - No cash may be taken out on mortgages refinanced using the streamline refinance process.

However, to make things tight again, Wells Fargo has decided to only do it for pre-existing customers, their own servicing portfolio.  Other banks are following suite, and making the same decision.  It appears they don't want to have to hire new employees to handle the increased business, so rather than this program succeed, it'll probably just be a stop gap, helping only a few people. 

But as a realtor, we need to let people who are having trouble making their payments know there is a way to get relief.  Go to their own servicer and apply for a streamline FHA refinance.