Louisiana Government Mortgage Help

If you live in Louisiana and are having trouble paying your mortgage payments or are facing foreclosure, there may be help from you from the state government and others.
As soon as you know you will have trouble making your payment, you should call your lender. You will have more options if you are no more than one or two payments behind than you will later. A good lender will often be able to help you work through your financial problems and will not want to take your home away from you.

In Louisiana, it is possible to get mortgage help from your state government, national assistance programs, and state charities. You can receive help with bills, medical bills, health expenses, food assistance, and other items that will help you continue to be able to make your house payments.
Many state and local governments have assistance programs to help residents in paying or refinancing mortgages to stop or at least reduce foreclosures. The amount of help may vary from one state to another. It can include new mortgage loans; help with paying an existing mortgage, grants, mortgage counseling, and other help. You can also find help paying electric bills, and for child care.

On the website, http://www.hud.gov/local/la/renting/energyprgms.cfm  you can find out about programs to help you in any state, including, Louisiana. If there is not a specific program to help with your problem in your area of Louisiana, you might still get help with other things on the website, such as paying for your medical bills, help with your prescription drugs, charities that might provide financial assistance, community action agencies, which are public and private, and might offer financial assistance and counseling, and federal assistance programs.

Other Mortgage website also offers a link to programs in Louisiana to government programs that might help with mortgage payments. You might also receive assistance from a housing counselor in your area. A list of counselors recognized by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development can be found at hud.gov or by calling 1-800-569-4287.
If you need more help than the state might offer, or local charities, President Obama’s Mortgage Modification program might help you. Information can be found at the HUD website.

Fannie Mae Changing Lending Practices

Fannie Mae which is a very large financial institution has announced that the company is changing its lending practices. This comes after many financial institutions have come under fire for their lending practices due to the number of foreclosures caused by predatory lending practices.

The financial institution is now going to make it harder for people to get loans and lines of credit. They are going to increase the minimum credit scores that are required by consumers to qualify for a loan.
Many consumers who easily qualified for loans with low credit scores have become overwhelmed with their payments due to the economy. Many people are now unemployed and cannot keep up with their monthly loan payments.

Fannie Mae will implement its new automated lending system on December 12, 2009. The system will now automatically reject borrowers who wish to take out loans who have a credit score that is lower than 620. The company had a previous system that only rejected borrowers with a credit score of 580 and below.
The credit score of 620 was chosen because borrowers who had a lower score than this one were nine times more likely to default on making their monthly loan payments.

There are also income restrictions for borrowers who are making a down payment of at least twenty percent towards their loan balance. Borrowers now cannot spend more than forty five percent of their income to pay their monthly payments and other expenses.
This news is actually very beneficial to borrowers and the financial industry as a whole. Many financial institutions who loan money to consumers often lose money because the borrowers default on their loans. This can hurt their bottom line which in turn causes the bank’s profit margin to decrease substantially.
Too many borrowers get in over their heads because they want to live above their own means. Many people think that taking on a lot of debt is not a big concern because they will pay the balance off over time.

The problem is that the economy and job growth in the United States has slowed down a lot. This means that employers are laying off employees and are not increasing their employees’ wages.
Consumers also need to help the financial industry recover by making sure that the budget before taking on a large monthly loan payment. By having a healthy amount of money in a savings account, consumers can prepare for the worst. Having a few months worth of expenses can ensure that financial obligations are met.
Other financial institutions can learn from Fannie Mae’s new stricter lending practices. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions so that money can be lent in a way that is good for consumers, the financial institutions, and the financial market as a whole.

Government Help refinancing jumbo Mortgages

Is there any government help available for refinancing a Jumbo Mortgage?

What is a Jumbo Mortgage?
A Jumbo Mortgage, previously, was a mortgage that was more than $417,000. A loan of less than that could previously be refinanced through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A loan of more than that could not.
Under President Obama’s 2009 Stimulus Package, however, the limit has been extended to $650,000. Thus, a loan between $417,000 and $650,000 would previously have been considered a Jumbo Loan, and no government help would have been available for refinancing. Now, such a loan would not be considered a Jumbo Loan, and it can be refinanced through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Before this action by President Obama, refinancing a loan of between $417,000 and $650,000 was difficult because of the credit crunch. It is now easier. You can now save one percent per year by refinancing your loan of that amount.
There are a variety of banks and finance companies that will refinance a jumbo loan. Some programs offer no requirement of private mortgage insurance, no lenders’ fees, no points, and interest only new home loans.
Under President Obama’s Stimulus Package, it is no longer necessary to hold a 20% equity share of a home before refinancing a Jumbo Mortgage. Even if a mortgage exceeds 105% of the current value of the home, you are eligible to apply to refinance your Jumbo Mortgage, or the loan that previously would have been considered a Jumbo Mortgage. The interest rate on refinancing such a loan has been reduced from 6.5% to 5.16%.
Banks that will refinance under the government program can be found at any number of popular lending sites, and the official sites of many banks have information.Traditionally, many who did refinance Jumbo Loans obtained interest rates of 7%, which was high enough that many abandoned their plans of refinancing. On the other hand, those with traditional mortgages often paid rates of 5% or below. Traditionally, those who obtained Jumbo Loan refinances have had to accept variable interest rates, rather than fixed.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have traditionally not purchased Jumbo Loans, so it is significant if you want to refinance that the government has changed the definition of what a Jumbo Loan is. You now can get government help for refinancing a loan that would have been considered a Jumbo Loan before, because it is not considered such a loan now. That is true, even if you cannot get help on what the government now considers a Jumbo Loan.

Government Mortgage Help in Philadelphia, PA

If you live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and face foreclosure, there may be help available to you to help you stay in your home. Other cities–Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Chicago–are examining the program and have adopted similar programs. People on the verge of foreclosure, who have lived in their homes for years but face their homes being sold by the sheriff’s office, have been helped by the local Philadelphia program.

Philadelphia’s primary civil court requires anyone who is faced with foreclosure and who is living in his house to become involved in a "conciliation conference." The conference is a face to face meeting that attempts to work out a compromise between the homeowner and lender. Every homeowner is given counseling, and many are given legal representation.

Conciliation Conferences are scheduled in the City Hall in Philadelphia, on the sixth floor, every Thursday morning. Volunteer lawyers are present. Lawyers working for the mortgage companies are there too. Those facing foreclosure are there–some of them construction workers in overalls, some of them the elderly with canes, some of them parents, who have their children with them.
Deals worked out can include lower monthly payments for borrowers, or cash for leaving the property, if a homeowner can’t afford payments at even a modified rate.