Harp 2.0- Is it for you?

One of the many things we have been working on is refinancing our home. We bought this home at just about the worst time, and so our loan to value (amount of your loan vs. the amount the home is worth I will now call this LTV) went from being 80% to about 200%- yes, that is REALLY bad! Anyways, since we make enough to cover the loan that we initially took out our mortgage company is not willing to do any kind of modification. We applied for a modification since we could not do a conventional refinance and were immediately shut done because we are current on our payments and we can afford our home. Home modifications usually include lowering payment, interest, term, or balance, you do have to show some kind of hardship or that you can not afford your payment- we can provide neither. I set out in search of another way, mortgage rates are at a low and I would really like to take advantage of that. What did I find? The Harp 2.0- looks like this may be our answer so maybe this will help you!

What is the Harp 2.0?:
Harp  stand for Home Affordable Refinance Program and is a program set up by the government to help people that like us, have no equity in their homes, but would like to refinance.

Do you qualify?:
I found this criteria on HARP's site:
The mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
The mortgage must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009.
The mortgage cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously unless it is a Fannie Mae loan that was refinanced under HARP from March-May, 2009.
The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be greater than 80%.
The borrower must be current on the mortgage at the time of the refinance, with no late payment in the past six months and no more than one late payment in the past 12 months.

Our process so far:  
First, we had to see if our loan was FreddieMac or Fannie Mae. (links provided) It was, this is important because you can not refinance under this program unless you are one or the other. Next, we called out local federal credit union to apply, you can also contact your mortgage provider to see if they offer the Harp 2.0. Application was really quick over the phone and I was pre-approved in about 5 minutes. My loan officer gave me a list of document to fax in; taxes, w2's, pay stubs, home owner's insurance, and bank statements. I was relived to find out that ours could be done without my business income (always a headache), and because of our high credit score we did not need an appraisal. After, they verify that everything matches up in underwriting our loan will be approved. We are set to sign at the end of the month.

My thoughts:
While not as low as a modification that would be offered for hardships, this really is a great option. For us, our new loan is at the best rate available 3.5 and keeping our same term will reduce our payments $300/month! We also have the ability to keep at the normal payment and pay off about 5 years sooner or for a few hundred more pay off about 10 years sooner! The process has been extremely easy and while we still have quite a balance on our home, this does make me feel that there is an end in site! Most of all, I am pretty excited that we finally qualify for something!!!

So, this is what we have been though so far- I will keep you posted on how it turns out! Hopefully, this information can help you save some money as well! :)