HAFA - Foreclosure Alternative Help

HAFA is the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative program created for homeowners who can not afford to keep their home.


President Barrack Obama helped establish the program through his Making Homes Affordable Plan and it is for the homeowners who are not capable of making a payment even if those payments are reduced through the Home Affordable Modification Program.

Obama Foreclosure Alternatives

In that case the homeowner is offered other mortgage solutions that do not let the homeowner keep the home but allow them to walk away with no mortgage debt. This is done with a short sale or perhaps a deed in lieu.

Obama Cash for Keys Program

Along with the foreclosure alternative the homeowner is able to receive a few thousand dollars of foreclosure relocation assistance through the Obama cash for keys program. Typically the cash for keys program available through HAFA allows homeowners to obtain 3,000 dollars of financial aid.

Home Affordable Mortgage

There is a huge need for mortgage assistance amidst a growing population of homeowners in financial hardship. This need has not been over looked.

There are many government mortgage assistance programs and these efforts only seem to be growing in both number and level of effectiveness.

Below you will find a list of homeowner assistance programs developed to provide homeowners the opportunity to obtain beneficial debt help that enables them to make home affordable.



Home Affordable Mortgage Program List


Home Affordable Refinance

This is the Obama refinance program that allows homeowners to refinance their current mortgage to a home loan with a more favorable and affordable monthly payment

FHA Short Refinance

Allows underwater homeowners to reduce their principle by at least 10% by refinancing.

Second Mortgage Modification

Gives lenders incentives to eliminate second lien mortgage debt.

Home Affordable Modification

This is the Obama loan modification program that allows homeowners in financial hardship to lower their monthly mortgage payment by restructuring the payment terms of their home loan and thus make home affordable. This program allows homeowners to stop foreclosure and overcome mortgage default.

Unemployment Assistance and Modification Program

This government mortgage assistance program allows homeowners who are unemployed to obtain mortgage relief via forbearance and than modification

Obama Foreclosure Alternatives

Provides homeowners who have long term financial hardships that prevent them from being able to keep their home the opportunity to stop foreclosure and walk away with no mortgage debt. Foreclosure alternatives such as a deed in lieu of foreclosure or a short sale are utilized to help these homeowners. Participants are also granted up to 3,000 dollars of foreclosure relocation assistance through the Obama cash for keys program.

Hardest Hit Fund

This program provides billions of dollars to the local housing authorities of states that have been hit the hardest by financial hardship caused by the turmoils of the down economy.

How to Get an Affordable Loan Modification

If you are a homeowner who wants to reduce their mortgage payment via the Obama mortgage modification program known as HAMP the Home Affordable Modification Program than you need to follow the step by step process listed below.


Qualify Yourself

The first step is to determine if you meet the basic qualifications for affordable mortgage modification program.

Preliminary HAMP Application

Next you need to obtain, complete, and submit the preliminary modification request application. This is what the government refers to as the Request for Modification Affidavit. This application is what starts the ball rolling and will get you into a HAMP trial modification.

Prepare Financial Package

With the initial application you should send a financial package that includes the following documents listed below.

• Tax Form 4506-EZ. This form allows your lender access to past tax returns you submitted to the IRS.
• Income documentation such as pay stubs and bank statements. Submit at least three months worth.
• Document certifying that you have not been convicted of felony larceny, fraud, forgery, money laundering, tax evasion, or the like in the past 10 years.

Successfully Complete HAMP Trial Modification

You must make all your trial payments on time and respond to the packages and inquires your lender will send in the mail. Play it safe and utilize the envelopes and payment coupons provided.

Get Approval (or Unmentionable) Decision

Wait for lender to evaluate debt, income, financial hardship, and the like.

Looking Back at Cash For Clunkers - Obama Plan

August 2009

Cash for Clunker - Obama Stimulus Program

The phrase "Cash For Clunkers" has been all over the media as of late and for good reason. Cash For Clunkers is thus far the most successful economic stimulus program, this notion is impressive by any measure but is even more impressive when you take in the fact that it makes up less then 1% of the stimulus budget. Not to mention that this figure was increased three fold from the original 1 billion dollar budget to 3 billion which was passed by congress due to the overwhelming success.


What is the Cash For Clunkers Program?

The Cash For Clunkers Program is a Consumer spending and automotive industry stimulus program that awards consumers with a substantial rebate in the amount of 3,500-4,500 dollars for meeting the following:

The consumer must trade in a "clunker" which is a term to describe a older automobile that gets poor gas mileage. Clunkers get 18 or less miles to the gallon.

The consumer must then purchase a new car that is fuel efficient and at least 4 miles to the gallon more efficient then the clunker traded in. The Incentive or amount of the rebate awarded is much higher for a car that is 10 miles to the gallon more efficient then the clunker traded in.

• 3500 dollars is awarded for a four mile improvement.
• 4500 dollars is awarded for a 10 mile improvement.                  

As mentioned in the beginning of this article the Cash For Clunkers Program performed much better then expected which was the catalyst behind congress's decision to triple the budget. Taking a look at the financial numbers describing the economic activity makes the popularity of the Obama stimulus program quite evident.

Resulting Economic Activity of the Cash For Clunkers Program

• Approximately 700,000 - 750,000 Transactions or new car purchases
• Approximately 20 billion dollars in sales

Benefits of the Cash For Clunkers Program

Economic Activity surged and more importantly then how much is where. Consumer spending as well as the automobile sales were two of the most troubled aspects of the recession and these were the beneficiaries of Obama's Cash For Clunkers Program.

Consumer Value

The Cash For Clunkers Program allowed the consumer participants to obtain substantial value per dollar.

Environmental Implications

This program will obviously help the environment because of the programs focus on fuel efficiency.

Gas Prices

The cost of fuel or gas will inherit downward pressure because of the quarter million clunkers that have been taken off the road and replaced with a more fuel efficient counter part.

Jobs and employment

This program will obviously help improve the employment numbers given the increased consumer spending.

Credit and Lending Activity

These new automobile purchases gave an upward push to lending activity, as consumers took on secured debt to finance these purchases.

Banks Playing Off Clueless Homeowners - Destroying the Obama Plan One American Dream at a Time

The HAMP modification has been compromised. Obama's mortgage assistance program designed to provide debt help for homeowners has been sabotaged.


The problem is that homeowners are not able to obtain a permanent modification through the program because they do not get approved after the HAMP trial modification.

Approximately 70% of HAMP trials started through JP Morgan and Chase are not approved. Approximately 50% of the 1.4 million trial modifications through the Making Home Affordable Plan have dropped out.

Now ask yourself; how it is that a program that was created and developed with terms chosen specifically because those terms allowed a projected eligibility of 3 - 4 million homeowners has only been able to issue 1.4 million trials and only half of those participants still have a shot of obtaining a permanent modification. That means about 1/5 to 1/7 of all those who originally qualified will not qualify according to the lenders hosting this program.

Oh Yeah, one other important detail that you may be curious to here about....

the lenders are given 1,000 dollars cash per HAMP trial!!!!!!!

hmmmm...

I know!

The lenders are taking advantage of the fact that homeowners don't know squat about contract law, the mechanics of the MHA HAMP Compliance measures, and have not a clue of the importance of communicating through writing nor do they understand how important it is to keep records. Now even if a homeowner was well aware of these aspects of lender negotiations when would a full time, hard working American homeowner get the chance to keep up with these tasks. They are time consuming and extremely stressful. This is even more true when you consider how much more mentally exhausting it is to deal with loss mitigation talks when it is your personal finances and financial well being that is of interest.

I have talked to many homeowners and read many emails from homeowners and the scoop is this...

Many homeowners have not a clue that they are even in a trial modification! Homeowners can't get their head around why they should not even bother talking and or listening to anything that the "customer service agent" aka DEBT COLLECTING LIARS AND HOME WRECKERS who just lie, lie, and lie.

Homeowners are not making payments with the coupons. They say "coupons? what coupons?" It is a total cluster duck of a situation. It is not hard to communicate the idea that the payment coupons are the means for tracking the HAMP trial modification. The lenders just don't make an effort besides putting the directions in print. If the homeowner calls typically the lender won't mention the coupons. I would not be surprised if we were all to find out that the vast majority of entry level customer service agents that work for the major lenders are not even aware of the payment coupons themselves.

You know what the homeowners could use????

REPRESENTATION

They don't know what to do.

They are overwhelmed and most of them are working twice as hard to find work, or they are just working more hours. They are fighting for their crumbling marriage. They are trying not to worry their kids. They are in shambles. They HURT they CRY they need HELP.

I just posted a new article that takes a closer look at the negotiation playing field between lender and homeowner. Take a look if you are interested.


Related Articles

Homeowner Risk and HAMP Modification

US Economic Growth... Well Kinda

The United States economy is at a fork in the road. Which way and where it will go? Nobody really knows, even if they don't tell you so.

How to Hedge a Failing US Economy

The finance blogs and finance bloggers of the world have been speaking of a dooms day looming in the not so distant future of the American economy. The really scary part is that they all have strong arguments.


There is a large supply of worry, and perhaps even a larger supply of reasons to be worried about.


In researching the current state of the American economy I had a few moments to think about what would be a good investment.


I asked myself; where should one put their hard earned money?




The Answer will shock you...









I think the most appropriate way to hedge ones portfolio at this point is to invest your time in a garden.


See the thing about this whole situation is that we as a country have messed with things like stimulus, bail outs, zero interest rates, new legislation, more regulations. and the like so much that there is little else to throw at the next unknown problem.


If things go bad again... It won't be because there is a shortage of money. No, It will be because there is no money of any standard or clearly determined value. Our economy will shift back over to the bartering system.


I am just not sure that are economic wheels can take another pot hole, recession, depression, or whatever.


We are already driving this thing with a spare tire (and on "E" thanks to BP).


The way i see it the US is still on track to a recovery, our economy is still growing, the illusion of money is still alive and well. However, there is just not a whole lot of great looking tricks to patch a tire if we catch another flat.


We can hold this thing together as long as everything runs smoothly, or if destiny blesses us with just a bit of luck we should all be just fine and dandy.


 I fear that any sort of bad luck in the near future could really F**k us.


But then again what do I know?


Let's get to the latest numbers that everyone is talking about...



GDP and Economic Growth

Where is The US Economy Going?

Over the last quarter the economy has grown at a rate of 1.6% which doesn't really sound all that bad to me. However original guidance predicted 2.4% which means that estimate fell by about 33%. On the brighter side analyst on wall street were expecting 1.3% so in that respect we are up 20%. I think that the fact that we are growing at all is either a miracle or a damn lie.


Over the last four quarters GDP has averaged 2.9%, The Experts on the matter say that unemployment will only get worst unless we have a GDP growth rate of 3%.


US Consumers



The US Consumer has actually been spending more on everything except for housing. Not to long ago I posted that the housing market was stabilizing but apparently I am a big fat liar.


Housing Numbers

Consumers are Spending - But Not on Housing

From the home sale numbers that have been released I estimate that at the very most in the month of July only 23,000 homes were bought and sold. This is less then an avg of 500 per state though trust me when I say that state home sale numbers differ tremendously. That does not say much for the previously posted story on the housing stability theory.

 In fact you have to go back half a century or so to find home sale numbers that low!

The home sale numbers have droped 33% year over year and they were not doing so well last year as you already know unless you have a world of warcraft account.


On top of that the Make Home Affordable Plan, Obama's mortgage assistance programs, has had fewer and fewer loan modification workouts come through HAMP, the modification program. The Obama modification plan, or more accurately HAMP has been a tremendous success by any comparative measure. But just the same, as of late, the HAMP performance has been a bit sluggish.


However the Obama Plan made an additional Hardest Hit Fund Payment to an additional five states that were hardest hit by the financial crisis.


I believe the foreclosure prevention assistance payout through the Hardest Hit Fund was 600 million dollars. Combining that with the original 1.5 billion dollars that stimulus total adds up to 2.1 billion dollars.

I think Obama is doing an amazing job overall on this side of things. Obama's housing and financial stability efforts have been tremendous.



The US Job Market



The private market is actually still producing new jobs. In July we had 71,000 new private sector work force additions. However the US economy as a whole shed a total of approximately 130,000 jobs.


These job losses were in large part due to the temporary census jobs that have come to an end. In July this number was around 145,000 jobs terminated. In June 225,000 jobs were lost. That is a total of 370,000 paychecks that are no longer going to be spent every other Friday... That is just no good.


But let us not get to hung up on that large and very scary number. The good news is that the private market is hiring and not firing. This is a blessing and a glimmer of hope for homeowners.

HAMP Modifications Are Drying Up - Uh Oh?

I was reading over an article I saw on a proclaimed debt help resource for homeowners.

The article was on the stats and numbers pertaining to the HAMP modification performance to date.

I expected to see good numbers as I have been hearing good things amidst the never ending slue of finance blog posts that I read on the housing market.



At first I really did see some promising numbers. There was a few highlights to warm you up stating how much money everyone was saving through these modifications through Obamas homeowner help program.

Then the first data table looked pretty swell as well. At first but as I followed the dates down from May of last year to the turn of the decade and then the numbers just started to crawl.

The next data table was even worst in fact it was a bit horrifying. It was just month to month growth rates for the cumulative modifications and net new monthly modifications... it was bad. I almost want to believe those guys made the whole thing up... but he didn't.

I think the future is becoming bleaker suddenly and no one knows it yet.

I hope we are not as screwed as those damn data tables make me think we are.

At one point I thought maybe that the population of eligible homeowners was simply exhausted. This is not so. The Make Home Affordable Outreach effort are only increasing in intensity. More and more homeowners are being urged to check the basic qualifications of Obama's modification assistance program and to apply if eligible.

Stabilizing The Housing Market – How America Did It

The mortgage loan and housing crisis created tremendous economic anxiety and directed the American economy towards a black hole of financial hardship.

Though the US economy is not out of the recession or perhaps depression, things have appeared to settle down a bit.

It looks as if the housing market may be stabilizing. This sis a article exploring the steps and actions that were taken to stabilize the US housing market.

Key Actions of Housing Recovery

• The FHA's Efforts and Powerful Initiative

• Their efforts to spend capital on mortgage assets and securities when private capital was no where to be found.

• Political backing of their efforts to reform the financial markets and particularly the practices and operations involving debt and risk management.

• Obama’s Making Home Affordable Plan

• HAMP Modifications have helped 1.2 million homeowners obtain a loan modification

• HARP Refinance

• Lender Incentives

• Freddie Mae as acting agent for the MHA-C or the compliance assurance operations

• The Plans overall flexibility and agility to structure and restructure programs as they are needed.

• The Marketing and Advertising – aka the out reach efforts of the Making Home Affordable Plan

• The Hardest Hit Fund – Foreclosure Relief

• Home Buyer Tax Credit
• The home buyer tax credit added a great incentive for first time home buyers.

• The Nearly 25 Billion Dollars Given to US Housing Agencies
• US Housing Agencies were able to keep lending while other private lenders were saddle bagging cash out of fear and financial panic.

• 1.4 Trillion dollars of Purchases by the FED and Treasury to Keep Credit Markets from Choking
• Thank God. We would be Russian otherwise.

• Financial Support for Fannie and Freddie

All of these actions taken by our collective American government has really helped stabilize the US housing market.

Obama Loan Modification - From 1 to 500,000 Mortgage Modifications

The Obama Loan Modification program known as the making home affordable plan has been a success! Mortgage Lenders finally got the hint from President Obama and his administration, They are now clearly headed in the right direction and offering Homeowner Hope to those in financial distress.


Large lending institutions such as Saxon, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and many others have really cam through this last month or so and have done their part in America's collective effort to Make Home Affordable by restructuring Home Mortgage loans under the Obama specified guide lines. In fact the mortgage lenders have even one upped Obama by completing the goal of 500,000 loan modifications by November 1st. They completed this feat with ease and plenty of time to spare as of early this month on October 6th.