Government Offers Assistance to Homeowners Via the Web
Trying to refinance a first mortgage but having trouble because the value of your house has decreased? Struggling to make your mortgage payments because of an increase in your interest rate or a decrease in your income? Well, the Federal government wants to help, and they have a website aimed to do so.
The new site, www.makinghomeaffordable.gov, offers tools and resources to help struggling homeowners refinance their mortgage or modify their existing mortgage to account for interest rate changes or negative changes in income. Visitors to the site can take short, easily-understandable quizzes to determine whether or not they qualify for each program, and a PDF-based Frequently Asked Questions document outlines both programs in detail. Also very handy are links to special functionality on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the infamous “owner” of hundreds of thousands of troubled mortgages—so users can see if one of the two agencies owns their mortgage. To qualify for either program, your mortgage must be owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Another great step forward in web usage by the government. Are pigs flying through the sky? Does money now grow on trees? Is it the government—God forbid—finally catching on?
By Robert Pothier