California Hardest Hit Fund Foreclosure Assistance - Strategic Focus

The California State Housing Authority has taken targeted measures to provide assistance to homeowners in financial hardship through the Hardest Hit Fund.

Like all states receiving help from HHF they have worked hard at developing innovative mortgage assistance programs targeted to the specific needs of their homeowners foreclosure assistance needs.

In addition to developing new programs they have adopted the approach of improving and expanding existing efforts and foreclosure prevention programs already in place.

California has decided to hyper focus borrower assistance resources towards aiding low to moderate income homeowners.

A core theme in the development and design of their approach is to ensure that their programs and the operations of their assistance efforts remain flexible and agile. This is in response to the success that the Obama home affordable mortgage assistance programs have had with the same approach.

To get the most bang out of their buck California foreclosure assistance efforts has put significant measures in place to have lenders, loan servicers, and PMI insurers to match their efforts dollar to dollar.


Related Articles

California Foreclosure Prevention Programs - Hardest Hit Fund Program

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 Refinance and Lower Your Monthly Payment

This article is a step by step guide on how to refinance and lower your mortgage payment. It is intended for homeowners who need to lower their monthly payments in order to stay current on their home loan.


I have another post in which I describe what borrowers are the best match for this particular mortgage payment solution. I suggest you make sure you are a good fit for refinance help to lower your payment before you move forward.

Below I have created a list of nine steps to take in order to refinance and lower your monthly mortgage payment.


Steps to Refinance and Lower Your Mortgage Payment

1. Create monthly budget.
2. Write hardship letter.
3. Income and tax documents.
4. Call your lender.
5. Ask about refinancing options for distressed borrowers.
6. Complete financial package that they request.
7. Submit financial package.
8. Follow up to make sure they received it and ask when to expect a reply.
9. Wait for approval.

Refinance Help - Lower Mortgage Payment

Many homeowners, who are still current on their mortgage, are worried about making their next monthly mortgage payment on time. Some will be able to make the next payment, but they know that something has to be done in the near future, or they will default.


These homeowners need help making home affordable for the long term.

If you are a homeowner who has found yourself amidst a financial hardship during these slow economic times than you know of the stress and worry it brings to your life.

If you are dealing with this stress, if you are a homeowner who knows you have to do something or you will eventually default on your mortgage, than be sure to read the rest of this post.

You can refinance your mortgage to a loan with more favorable terms. You can lower your monthly payment.

Characteristics of Homeowners who May Be Able to Lower Their Mortgage Payment by Refinancing

• They have at least 9 - 12 percent of home equity that has accumulated.
• They are still current on their mortgage payments.

Those are only generic qualifications. If you are interested in a specific program than you need to reference the applicable qualifications for that refinance program of interest.

If you are a homeowner who meets this basic borrower profile than you may be able to refinance and lower your mortgage payment.

Where to Go From Here

If you want to explore this opportunity or move forward towards refinancing your mortgage loan than I suggest taking a look at another recent article of mine that lists all the steps involved in refinancing your loan to lower your mortgage payment. The post is titled and linked below...

How to Refinance and Lower Your Monthly Payment

When and How Subprime Went Wrong - Explained

Subprime Lending Went Wrong

Subprime loans have enabled thousands upon thousands of Americans who did not qualify for prime loans the opportunity to buy a home via the funds obtained through a subprime loan.

However the subprime lending market got a little to ambitious for their own good.

These overly ambitious subprime lenders began lending to borrowers who did not qualify. These loans were doomed from the get go but they were masked by fill in the blank financial documents and even worst missing documentation.

The other direction was perhaps worst from a ethical stand point but an understandable strategy from a purely cost benefit analysis.

Subprime loans were given to prime borrowers. Even worst many of these loans were taken blindly by borrowers who did not understand what they were getting themselves into. Many prime borrowers were refinancing out of more favorable home loans into less favorable much more expensive loans with exotic terms that the borrowers did not understand.

Thus the end result is today's and yesterday's head lines. First the bad subprime loans to less then subprime borrowers started to go bad. This put pressure on the housing markets. Then that new pressure on housing prices started to push a lot of typical subprime borrowers with subprime loans down the default trap and this really started to put some weight on the housing market.

At this point the level of foreclosures every month is  starting to skyrocket out of control. Loan agents and real estate agents start to quickly find themselves out of work. They start defaulting on their financial obligations including their loans and their home loans as well.

Then the prime borrowers with subprime loans begin to crumble under the quaking of a faltering economy. Once this wave of borrower starts going so to do retail sales, automotive sales, jewelry sales and the like.

As these sales go so to do the salaries and commissions that the employees and agents of those industries were making. Then there mortgages begin to default. Many of these borrowers are prime borrowers.

The mortgage market is in free fall right behind the home sale figures. Businesses are laying off employees and cutting back.

From here it just gets worst.

Nationwide panic leads to world wide panic.

Then there was a bottom. Then there was Obama. Then there was stimulus.

Then the US started on their way back up.

Related Articles

Subprime Economy

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.

Refinancing Consumer Craze - Low Mortgage Interest Rates

Low Mortgage Rates – Low Mortgage Origination –

Sky Rocketing Mortgage Refinance Origination Loans

Low Mortgage Rates Create High Demand for Mortgage Refinancing

Mortgage rates are low as they can be. I honestly do not know if we are ever going to see rates this low ever again. Though I should say that statements like that some how always seem to turn out wrong.




So with low mortgage rates you may suspect as I would that there would be high levels of mortgage origination's. Consumers would take advantage of such an opportunity.



Right…



…well…



…yes and no.



See the level of mortgage origination's is not rising. This is due to the low home sale figures as of late. But consumers are still taking advantage of the low mortgage rates.



Consumers are taking advantage of low mortgage interest rates by refinancing out of higher more profitable (for lenders) interest rate mortgage products into lower more borrower friendly loans. Mortgage refinancing activity has doubled from the end of the first quarter.



According to MBA, the Mortgage Banking Association, the weekly refinance index has pushed past 4,000. That number dwarfs recent index lows of 2,000.



I think that this is a positive trend for the American consumer. By refinancing into a lower mortgage rate homeowners will be able to lower monthly mortgage rates and and make home affordable.



This is a great opportunity for consumers to take advantage of the ability to utilize mortgage refinance as a debt solution in these times of financial hardship.