In an effort to help responsible homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth, the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has began providing an additional refinancing option for underwater borrowers.  This enhancement will offer certain “underwater” non-FHA borrowers who are CURRENT on their existing mortgage and whose lien holders agree to write off at least ten percent of the unpaid principal balance of the first mortgage, the opportunity to qualify for a new FHA-insured mortgage.

Participation is voluntary and the requirements are set forth below:

1. The homeowner must be in a negative equity position;

2. The homeowner must be current on the existing mortgage to be refinanced;

3. The homeowner must occupy the subject property (1-4 units) as their primary residence;

4. The homeowner must qualify for the new loan under standard FHA underwriting requirements and possess a “FICO based” decision credit score greater than or equal to 500;

5. The existing loan to be refinanced must not be a FHA-insured loan;

6. The existing first lien holder must write off at least 10 percent of the unpaid principal

balance;

7. The refinanced FHA-insured first mortgage must have a loan-to-value ratio of no more than 97.75 percent;

8. Non-extinguished existing subordinate mortgages must be re-subordinated and the new loan may not have a combined loan-to-value ratio greater than 115 percent;

9. For loans that receive a “refer” risk classification from TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard (TOTAL) and/or are manually underwritten, the homeowner’s total monthly mortgage payment, including the first and any subordinate mortgage(s), cannot be greater than 31 percent of gross monthly income and total debt, including all recurring debts, cannot be greater than 50 percent of gross monthly income;

10. FHA mortgagees are not permitted to use premium pricing to pay off existing debt obligations to qualify the borrower for the new loan;

11. FHA mortgagees are not permitted to make mortgage payments on behalf of the borrowers or otherwise bring the existing loan current to make it eligible for FHA insurance; and

12. The existing loan to be refinanced may not have been brought current by the existing first lien holder, except through an acceptable permanent loan modification

This isn’t a win-win for everyone, so check with your lender for further consideration.