Today’s post answers a couple of recent reader e-mails. The first question concerns the mortgage modification aspect of the government’s Making Home Affordable program.
“I applied for MHA and was turned down. Our mortgage is 51 percent of our income but we’ve never been late. Their answer was to sell my home. If I can scrape by and make payments, don’t I of all people deserve some relief?”
The reader didn’t provide further specifics than what you see above, so I will address not to this one individual but for the multitudes of others in a similar situation. On the surface, many appear eligible when there could be an underlying reason they are not.
There is a progression that lenders must follow under the Home Affordable Modification Plan, or HAMP. This “waterfall” process is designed to reduce mortgage payments to 31 percent of household income.