My friend Aiden bought his first home several years ago. He went for a fixed rate mortgage and managed to consistently pay his monthly dues without fail. That was until the recession hit and the firm he was working for had to shut down. Aiden tried to find another job to try to keep up with his mortgage payments but many firms were simply not hiring. So Aiden had to work as a waiter at a restaurant which was less than what his qualifications could offer. He was also earning significantly less than what he earned as an engineer but he had to do something in order to live. With his reduced income, Aiden had to make some adjustments to his finances and that included reducing his monthly obligation on his mortgage. So Aiden decided to apply for a HARP mortgage refinancing option.

Aiden knew that he would need to urgently refinance his home under the HARP mortgage refinancing program because he would not want his mortgage to become delinquent and subsequently put a huge dent in his credit report. Or worse, he could even lose his home. He was also aware that he should take action while his mortgage is still current and up to date. This is because he would not qualify for a HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) mortgage if he was more than 30 days behind on his mortgage payments. Basically the program was developed by the government to assist home owners like Aiden who might need to refinance their homes but would probably not qualify for conventional refinancing options offered by banks and other financial institutions. So Aiden also had to make sure that his current mortgage was backed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac in order to qualify for the HARP program.

Aiden then met up with his loan officer from the bank where he took out his first mortgage from to see if they offer any government mortgage program like HARP so that he could refinance his home. It was a good thing that his bank was an approved HARP refinance provider as well as allowed to do business with either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. When Aiden filled out the application he also had to include statements of his monthly income, tax returns and also other monthly debt payments. They also ran more credit checks to ensure that he had no delinquent mortgages or debts as well as conducting an appraisal of the value of his home.

So he submitted his application along with the supporting documentation that they requested. It took his bank more than 30 days to look over his application and determine if he qualified for a government mortgage like HARP. In the mean time, Aiden still had to pay for his mortgage so for the first couple of months prior to the approval of his HARP application he had to suffer a little bit. After paying for his mortgage, he was only left with barely enough to live on so he had to make some major lifestyle changes while waiting for his HARP approval. It was quite an ordeal for Aiden because as a waiter his was earning minimum wages. When his application was finally approved, Aiden was very happy because he could still keep his home as the monthly payments he would now have to make were significantly reduced.

Aiden kept paying his for his mortgage every month without fail and at the same time he attempted to improve his finances by starting his own business. He hoped to be able to earn more later in the years while maintaining the low monthly payments to his mortgager so that he would also be able to save some money aside for his retirement although he still had a long way to go.

Author Bio: harp mortgage government mortgage program government mortgage

Category: Finances
Keywords: harp mortgage, government mortgage program, government mortgage