| Posted By |
Message |
Ophelia
she's baaccckkkk ;)
Member since 5/06 23378 total posts
Name:
remember, when Gulliver traveled....
|
Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
we were just offered the opportunity to do this out of the blue.
I just got off the phone with the rep and am going over/crunching the numbers.
anyone do this with the program? is it as good as it sounds?
basically, we are going from 6.0% to 5.25% and have the option of rolling the closing costs (after the program subsidy) into the mortgage amount. even if we do that, we are still saving $140 a month.
our "break even" mark would be only 1 year.
it's just sort of catching me off guard. anyone with any experience/insight with this?????
TIA
|
Posted 6/14/11 2:05 PM  |
| |
|
Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource | Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate |
dfw343
LIF Infant
Member since 7/10 246 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
WATCH what they charge you to close. They will say it costs nothing but they mean THEY won't charge you. You still have mandatory fees from city/state, appraisals etc. YOu will have no lawyer this time so if you hate paperwork, you might miss something.
Also, in order to qualify for the HARP loan, your house has to be less a certain % less (not sure what cut off is) of what you bought it for.
THAT could harm what kind of rate you get in end and also for any future re-sale or landlord deduction if you ever decide to rent.
Honestly, you can get in the high 4s the normal refi way.
See what other banks offer too!
|
| Posted 6/14/11 2:55 PM |
| |
|
TreAnt427
-
Member since 8/06 8652 total posts
Name:
Tracy
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
I don't know anything about the HARP program, but I have heard that you should be going down at least 2 pts in interest for a refi to be worth it.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 3:08 PM |
| |
|
bobby769
LIF Infant
Member since 7/10 253 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Ophelia
we were just offered the opportunity to do this out of the blue.
I just got off the phone with the rep and am going over/crunching the numbers.
anyone do this with the program? is it as good as it sounds?
basically, we are going from 6.0% to 5.25% and have the option of rolling the closing costs (after the program subsidy) into the mortgage amount. even if we do that, we are still saving $140 a month.
our "break even" mark would be only 1 year.
it's just sort of catching me off guard. anyone with any experience/insight with this?????
TIA
BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!
Good, got your attention?
If you are saving $140 per month and break even in a year, that means your closing costs will be about $1680?
- If that's what you were told you're already being misled.
- Banks will always tell (and even suggest) you build the closing costs into the loan. This is a very bad move. The amount this adds in interest over the life of the loan helps you in no way at all.
The closing costs will include things like 1yr of insurance, a few months of taxes, some interest charges, as will as title search and a few other things. My conservative estimate is that these charges will be more like at least $6000. Bringing the break even to more like 3.5 yrs.
Interest rates are quite low and 5% seems kind of high.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:03 PM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
We just refinanced through with a HARP loan through Chase. Yes, they rolled our closing costs in and we dropped a point to 5.375% which is saving us $370/month. It was worth it IMO.
Edit - All said and done it was about $3700 to close the loan. $2K was rolled into our principal and we paid $1700 out of pocket. It was worth it IMO for the long term savings over the life of our loan.
Message edited 6/14/2011 4:37:28 PM.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:36 PM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by bobby769
Posted by Ophelia
we were just offered the opportunity to do this out of the blue.
I just got off the phone with the rep and am going over/crunching the numbers.
anyone do this with the program? is it as good as it sounds?
basically, we are going from 6.0% to 5.25% and have the option of rolling the closing costs (after the program subsidy) into the mortgage amount. even if we do that, we are still saving $140 a month.
our "break even" mark would be only 1 year.
it's just sort of catching me off guard. anyone with any experience/insight with this?????
TIA
BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!
Good, got your attention?
If you are saving $140 per month and break even in a year, that means your closing costs will be about $1680?
- If that's what you were told you're already being misled.
- Banks will always tell (and even suggest) you build the closing costs into the loan. This is a very bad move. The amount this adds in interest over the life of the loan helps you in no way at all.
The closing costs will include things like 1yr of insurance, a few months of taxes, some interest charges, as will as title search and a few other things. My conservative estimate is that these charges will be more like at least $6000. Bringing the break even to more like 3.5 yrs.
Interest rates are quite low and 5% seems kind of high.
No where near $6K under the HARP loan. I just did it...............all closing costs settled at $3700 and if we didn't owe our taxes as the loan was closing it would've been less. Also, be aware if you're upside down and refi under the HARP program you won't get better than jut over 5%.
Message edited 6/14/2011 4:40:00 PM.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:38 PM |
| |
|
bobby769
LIF Infant
Member since 7/10 253 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
$3700 even though you owed taxes?
That seems very low.
I'm figuring one or a combination of the following are a factor in your loan -
Taxes/insurance are not escrowed.
your taxes are extremely low,
and/or
You did not switch banks.
Message edited 6/14/2011 4:44:44 PM.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:43 PM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by bobby769
$3700 even though you owed taxes?
That seems very low.
I'm figuring one or a combination of the following are a factor in your loan -
Taxes/insurance are not escrowed.
your taxes are extremely low,
and/or
You did not switch banks.
Both taxes and insurance are in escrow, my taxes are almost $9K/yr and I was already with Chase which really isn't much of a factor. We called around to other banks and their rates and closing costs were all about the same under the HARP program. The HARP loan is not a traditional refi because the idea is to help people stay in their homes by making payments more affordable and to that end it's not anywhere near as costly as a traditional refi.
I've had other friends refi with Chase under the HARP program and they too had low closing costs.
Edit - My taxes were being pulled as my loan was closing so Chase basically drained my old escrow acct., settled my taxes, and I had to refund a potion of my new escrow acct. It was too complicated to explain but in the end my closing costs were as stated.
Message edited 6/14/2011 4:51:54 PM.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:49 PM |
| |
|
Deeluvsvinny
DONE
Member since 10/08 4952 total posts
Name:
Whatever
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
I don't know about Chase's program, but I work at another major lender and we have the HARP program- most banks do now.
The reason your closing costs are lower- NO appraisal is required
They do a CEMA aka consolidation, so you don't have to pay mortgage tax again
If you have the Cash for your clsoing costs, you can pay out of pocket, but if you are still saving money monthly with rolling in your closing costs, it's not a bad idea.
Jess- this is your house upstate, right? That's another reason your costs are lower..it's not LI taxes, or mortgage tax.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:54 PM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Deeluvsvinny
I don't know about Chase's program, but I work at another major lender and we have the HARP program- most banks do now.
The reason your closing costs are lower- NO appraisal is required
They do a CEMA aka consolidation, so you don't have to pay mortgage tax again
If you have the Cash for your clsoing costs, you can pay out of pocket, but if you are still saving money monthly with rolling in your closing costs, it's not a bad idea.
Jess- this is your house upstate, right? That's another reason your costs are lower..it's not LI taxes, or mortgage tax.
What she said. We did NOT need an appraisal and the loan was closed as a CEMA loan so we avoided the transfer taxes.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 4:55 PM |
| |
|
Deeluvsvinny
DONE
Member since 10/08 4952 total posts
Name:
Whatever
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Hofstra26
Posted by Deeluvsvinny
I don't know about Chase's program, but I work at another major lender and we have the HARP program- most banks do now.
The reason your closing costs are lower- NO appraisal is required
They do a CEMA aka consolidation, so you don't have to pay mortgage tax again
If you have the Cash for your clsoing costs, you can pay out of pocket, but if you are still saving money monthly with rolling in your closing costs, it's not a bad idea.
Jess- this is your house upstate, right? That's another reason your costs are lower..it's not LI taxes, or mortgage tax.
What she said. We did NOT need an appraisal and the loan was closed as a CEMA loan so we avoided the transfer taxes.
MOST loans also qualify for the stated income/asset too. Meaning, you don't have to supply W2s, bank statements, paystubs. Closings are usually pretty quick.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 5:00 PM |
| |
|
bobby769
LIF Infant
Member since 7/10 253 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Hofstra26
I was already with Chase which really isn't much of a factor.
I'm sure the HARP program has lower closing costs as part of the program but the fact you stayed w/ Chase makes a huge difference.
When switching banks the new bank would require full escrow, the county would require mortgage recording which alone can be $1500 to $2000.
The HARP program is a great program but my familiarity w/ it is that alot of people aren't meeting the requirements.
As for your comment about a sob story not mattering - there are certain circumstances that would make a modification a possible option. I few years back there were many people who couldn't afford the home in the first place and should never have been placed. Such a person might have experienced no new hardship and could be eligible simply because if you look at their finances through today's stricter requirements, they would not qualify to buy that same house even at today's rates.
Besides, seriously, what's the harm in her trying? I've gotten a lot of things from banks just because I was persistent.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 5:02 PM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by bobby769
Posted by Hofstra26
I was already with Chase which really isn't much of a factor.
I'm sure the HARP program has lower closing costs as part of the program but the fact you stayed w/ Chase makes a huge difference.
When switching banks the new bank would require full escrow, the county would require mortgage recording which alone can be $1500 to $2000.
The HARP program is a great program but my familiarity w/ it is that alot of people aren't meeting the requirements.
As for your comment about a sob story not mattering - there are certain circumstances that would make a modification a possible option. I few years back there were many people who couldn't afford the home in the first place and should never have been placed. Such a person might have experienced no new hardship and could be eligible simply because if you look at their finances through today's stricter requirements, they would not qualify to buy that same house even at today's rates.
Besides, seriously, what's the harm in her trying? I've gotten a lot of things from banks just because I was persistent.
They really don't care about your sob story. I promise you, they SPECIFICALLY said unless you're delinquent in your payments and can PROVIDE proof of a TRUE hardship (loss of job, death) they will NOT modify the loan.
As for the closing costs, they other banks we spoke with indicated similar closing costs under the HARP program.
Not trying to be difficult but I literally just went through all of this the past few weeks.
|
| Posted 6/14/11 5:07 PM |
| |
|
Ophelia
she's baaccckkkk ;)
Member since 5/06 23378 total posts
Name:
remember, when Gulliver traveled....
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Deeluvsvinny
I don't know about Chase's program, but I work at another major lender and we have the HARP program- most banks do now.
The reason your closing costs are lower- NO appraisal is required
They do a CEMA aka consolidation, so you don't have to pay mortgage tax again
If you have the Cash for your clsoing costs, you can pay out of pocket, but if you are still saving money monthly with rolling in your closing costs, it's not a bad idea.
Jess- this is your house upstate, right? That's another reason your costs are lower..it's not LI taxes, or mortgage tax.
hey bebe
yes it's for the house. the closing costs are low b/c chase is subsidizing part of it. they have the loan amount figured out to cover our escrow AND any taxes that could be due, as well as the part of the closing costs they didn't subsidize. we have the option of paying out of pocket.
we have lost enough value on the house to be eligible.
I want to look more into it...but I am glad to hear others experiences.
thanks!!!
|
| Posted 6/14/11 5:15 PM |
| |
|
|
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
My parents and my husband both have Chase mortgages and qualified for HARP. My dad was quoted 5K for closing costs last week. He will be rolling into the mortgage. His rate will be 4.75 on a 30 yr fixed.
My hubby was told no closing costs. Rate is currently 5.375 and will drop to 4.875 if he goes through with the closing. If Chase lied about the no closing costs part, my hubby won't sign the papers so anyone who already set a closing date, please update this thread!
|
| Posted 6/15/11 1:11 AM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by BatGirl9910
My parents and my husband both have Chase mortgages and qualified for HARP. My dad was quoted 5K for closing costs last week. He will be rolling into the mortgage. His rate will be 4.75 on a 30 yr fixed.
My hubby was told no closing costs. Rate is currently 5.375 and will drop to 4.875 if he goes through with the closing. If Chase lied about the no closing costs part, my hubby won't sign the papers so anyone who already set a closing date, please update this thread!
I just closed a HARP loan two weeks ago with Chase...............there is NO way he will have NO closing costs so I would suggest going over everything with Chase. I would also be very surprised if he got as low as 4.875%. We called around to multiple banks when looking into the HARP loan and we didn't find a single bank offering a rate that was lower than about 5.3%.
Also, your parents may have just a traditional refi. I would assume they are NOT upside down in their mortgage and the HARP loan is ONLY for people with NO equity, such as myself. I am guessing between the rate your parents got and the amount of closing costs they did a traditional refi and NOT the HARP loan. The HARP loan is really for people who bought in the past 5-6 years and now because of the terrible housing market have no equity in their homes.
Message edited 6/15/2011 8:06:50 AM.
|
| Posted 6/15/11 8:04 AM |
| |
|
|
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by Hofstra26
Posted by BatGirl9910
My parents and my husband both have Chase mortgages and qualified for HARP. My dad was quoted 5K for closing costs last week. He will be rolling into the mortgage. His rate will be 4.75 on a 30 yr fixed.
My hubby was told no closing costs. Rate is currently 5.375 and will drop to 4.875 if he goes through with the closing. If Chase lied about the no closing costs part, my hubby won't sign the papers so anyone who already set a closing date, please update this thread!
I just closed a HARP loan two weeks ago with Chase...............there is NO way he will have NO closing costs so I would suggest going over everything with Chase. I would also be very surprised if he got as low as 4.875%. We called around to multiple banks when looking into the HARP loan and we didn't find a single bank offering a rate that was lower than about 5.3%.
Also, your parents may have just a traditional refi. I would assume they are NOT upside down in their mortgage and the HARP loan is ONLY for people with NO equity, such as myself. I am guessing between the rate your parents got and the amount of closing costs they did a traditional refi and NOT the HARP loan. The HARP loan is really for people who bought in the past 5-6 years and now because of the terrible housing market have no equity in their homes.
I think you are right, I dont understand why the loan officer called it a HARP loan though. My parents and my husband both have equity in the homes. My parents bought the house in 1994 and have only refinanced twice (1x to lower the rate, and the other for a cash out). Even with the refi and closing costs, the new amount will still be only 5K more than the original loan. I went to Chase Bank with my dad last weekend to go over the numbers and he qualified, they said closing costs may drop to as low as $ 4200 or so (I find that hard to believe as usually they increase) but thats what they said. My dad has never missed a loan payment and they have tons of equity in the home (more than 75%).
I told my dad it wasnt worth refinancing because their rate is currently 5.625% so they are only saving around $ 178 each month. The "break even" point will be around 3 years. However my dad doesnt have much left for retirement so he wants to drop his payment in order to save $$, and they dont have plans of selling the house.
I dont think DHs loan is a HARP loan either eevn though that loan officer also labelled it as such. DH actually pays MORE than the min amount and technically can pay off the house with what he has left in his savings account (he put down 65% when he bought the house). I will ask Chase again if the "no closing costs" is a gimmick or what, because the papers did lock in a 4.875 rate (30 yr fixed).
DH wont sign it if they misrepresented any of that..
stay tuned...
PS I do believe the low 4.875 rates are actually common. My friends just refi to a 4.325 however they did it to a 15 year fixed. I do Refi closings on the side (as a Notary for Quicken Loans) and 95% of the closing papers I reviewed from Jan 2011 to now revealed 30 year fixed rate loans rates between 4.5% and 5.0%. CHASE is the only bank that called DH asking him to refi - up until a month ago, DH has ZERO plans of refinancing because we have a 5.375 rate which is already low.
Message edited 6/15/2011 8:50:07 AM.
|
| Posted 6/15/11 8:46 AM |
| |
|
Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Posted by BatGirl9910
Posted by Hofstra26
Posted by BatGirl9910
My parents and my husband both have Chase mortgages and qualified for HARP. My dad was quoted 5K for closing costs last week. He will be rolling into the mortgage. His rate will be 4.75 on a 30 yr fixed.
My hubby was told no closing costs. Rate is currently 5.375 and will drop to 4.875 if he goes through with the closing. If Chase lied about the no closing costs part, my hubby won't sign the papers so anyone who already set a closing date, please update this thread!
I just closed a HARP loan two weeks ago with Chase...............there is NO way he will have NO closing costs so I would suggest going over everything with Chase. I would also be very surprised if he got as low as 4.875%. We called around to multiple banks when looking into the HARP loan and we didn't find a single bank offering a rate that was lower than about 5.3%.
Also, your parents may have just a traditional refi. I would assume they are NOT upside down in their mortgage and the HARP loan is ONLY for people with NO equity, such as myself. I am guessing between the rate your parents got and the amount of closing costs they did a traditional refi and NOT the HARP loan. The HARP loan is really for people who bought in the past 5-6 years and now because of the terrible housing market have no equity in their homes.
I think you are right, I dont understand why the loan officer called it a HARP loan though. My parents and my husband both have equity in the homes. My parents bought the house in 1994 and have only refinanced twice (1x to lower the rate, and the other for a cash out). Even with the refi and closing costs, the new amount will still be only 5K more than the original loan. I went to Chase Bank with my dad last weekend to go over the numbers and he qualified, they said closing costs may drop to as low as $ 4200 or so (I find that hard to believe as usually they increase) but thats what they said. My dad has never missed a loan payment and they have tons of equity in the home (more than 75%).
I told my dad it wasnt worth refinancing because their rate is currently 5.625% so they are only saving around $ 178 each month. The "break even" point will be around 3 years. However my dad doesnt have much left for retirement so he wants to drop his payment in order to save $$, and they dont have plans of selling the house.
I dont think DHs loan is a HARP loan either eevn though that loan officer also labelled it as such. DH actually pays MORE than the min amount and technically can pay off the house with what he has left in his savings account (he put down 65% when he bought the house). I will ask Chase again if the "no closing costs" is a gimmick or what, because the papers did lock in a 4.875 rate (30 yr fixed).
DH wont sign it if they misrepresented any of that..
stay tuned...
PS I do believe the low 4.875 rates are actually common. My friends just refi to a 4.325 however they did it to a 15 year fixed. I do Refi closings on the side (as a Notary for Quicken Loans) and 95% of the closing papers I reviewed from Jan 2011 to now revealed 30 year fixed rate loans rates between 4.5% and 5.0%. CHASE is the only bank that called DH asking him to refi - up until a month ago, DH has ZERO plans of refinancing because we have a 5.375 rate which is already low.
As far as the interest rates, you can get in the 4's, I agree with you there, but not with the HARP program. You don't get the best rates on a HARP loan which is why I said you wouldn't really see better than about a 5.375% rate if in fact he was refinancing under the HARP program.
So I don't doubt you're family is getting better than a 5.375% because it seems like they both have a ton of equity in their homes which opens up a lot more refinancing options for them as opposed to someone like me who is upside down in the mortgage.
So based on what you said there is NO way that they are getting a HARP loan and if that is what the loan officer told them he/she has NO idea what they are talking about. Like I said, it's explicitly for people who have NO equity and seeing that your DH put down so much money and can basically pay off the mortgage and the fact that your parents have 75% equity in the house it's not a HARP refi.
There are so many refi programs and perhaps some do offer no closing costs depending on your situation but in the case of HARP there are closing costs and it's not the BEST rate out there, although in my case it was better than what I had so for us it was worthwhile. Having equity in your home really changes the game when it comes to doing a refi. Being upside down puts me at the mercy of the bank.
Message edited 6/15/2011 9:25:37 AM.
|
| Posted 6/15/11 9:24 AM |
| |
|
Ophelia
she's baaccckkkk ;)
Member since 5/06 23378 total posts
Name:
remember, when Gulliver traveled....
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
HARP is about retention.
I am pretty sure that while I could get a lower rate elsewhere, I would be paying a much higher TAX to the state, so it would be wash.
dh crunched the numbers last night. if we PAY monthly the new amount we'd only say 11k over the life of the loan.
BUT,
if we continue to pay what we've been paying and apply that extra $140 to the principal, we'd pay the mortgage off 40 months EARLY and save 62k!!!!!!!!!!
I'd say this is good for us. our rate is currently 6.0 so 5.25 is great to us.
ETA: the rep told us the same thing...sort of. it's not that there are NO closing costs. there are. we were quoted a bit over 5k. but chase is paying part of that (amost 4k) and we are responsible for 1295. the loan amount they are basing the new monthly payment off of INCLUDES that 1295. so, b/c they are rolling the charges into the mortgage, there are no closing costs DUE at closing. unless taxes are due.
Message edited 6/15/2011 10:42:08 AM.
|
| Posted 6/15/11 10:39 AM |
| |
|
tvlobos
LIF Zygote
Member since 8/11 1 total post
Name:
|
Re: Chase mortgage people, anyone refinance with their HARP program?
Chase has also been calling me because they said according to our loan with them and our payment history, we look like good candidates for the HARP loan our rate is 6% (we also owe more then the value). For those of you who did a Harp refinance with Chase, did you have to provide documents or fill out paperwork showing the debt you owed? I researched the program and according to what I read on the Gov't site, approval is based on having not been 30 days behind on mortgage payments for at least 12 months and income verification. Just wondering what hoops we would have to jump through? Also, has anyone been able to just provide stated income?
|
| Posted 8/3/11 2:03 PM |
| |
|
