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Today, we will review the Making Home Affordable program brought to you by the Treasury Department and Housing & Urban Development, located at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov Making Home Affordable program is an initiative of Obama administration to stabilize the US housing market and help homeowners who have lost their jobs and are not able to keep up with their mortgage payments. It allows homeowners to refinance their mortgages and make their payments affordable in line with their incomes. It also helps homeowners who are unemployed and are 'underwater' meaning their mortgages are more than what their home is worth. It also helps homeowners who are in foreclosure and interested in selling their properties to avoid the huge financial obligation. There is NO cost to this program, interested single mothers who are having financial problems should contact an HUD counselor who will guide them through their viable options, determine if they are eligible and provide application forms. This program will help single moms who are unemployed by suspending their mortgage payments for 3 months while they seek re-employment. To qualify, your mortgage must have been obtained prior to January 1st, 2009 and you must occupy the principal residence that you own. You must also make a request for this service before you have missed 3 payments on your mortgage. To apply, contact your mortgage provider or servicer to see if you are eligible. Over 100 mortgage companies have agreed to work with the Making Home Affordable program, the full list of these companies can be viewed here. Also be aware that you may be required to make 31% of your gross income (including unemployment benefits) towards your mortgage under this program. If you need more guidance, contact a housing counselor by calling toll free (888)995-HOPE (4673). Under this program, your monthly mortgage payment can be lowered to 31% of your gross monthly income resulting in up to $1,000 reduction in mortgage payment for 18% of all homeowners who are eligible for this program. To be eligible, you must have obtained your mortgage before January 1st, 2009 and occupy your house as your principal residence. You must also have a mortgage payment that exceeds 31% of your gross monthly (pre-tax) income and are having financial difficulties meeting your obligations. This program is for homeowners who are employed or 'underemployed' but still having difficulty making mortgage payments. Again if you need more information, visit their website provided above or call (888)995-HOPE (4673) for support. The Making Home Affordable website has a tool that lets you check if you are eligible for any of their programs by quickly asking you questions such as is your home your primary residence, is the amount you owe on your first mortgage less than $729,750, are you having trouble making mortgage payments, did you get your mortgage before January 1st, 2009 and if you live in states such as Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, etc. These are the states with the highest rate of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, so additional help is available for homeowners living in those states. You can view this tool using this link www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/get-assistance/explore-eligibility/Pages/eligibility.aspx Once you call a qualified HUD counselor using toll free 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will work with an expert who will look in to your situation and guide you on feasible options. The HUD counselor will look over all your mortgage documents and contact your mortgage servicer on your behalf. Other helpful services that HUD counselors can provide is budgeting where they can help you set budgets so you can meet your mortgage obligations and still have money left over for other living expenses. I am really impressed with the scale of this service; it is provided in over 170 languages and someone will answer your phone within 30 seconds, at least 98% of callers do. Also note that this entire service is free and no obligation. This is a cool calculator available on the Making Home Affordable website (see above). Under this program, the target maximum money you should be paying towards your mortgage each month should be 31% of your gross (pre-tax) monthly income. As an example, if you make $40,000 a year salary, your monthly gross income is $3333. Under this program, no more than $1,033 of your monthly salary should go towards mortgage payment. In the first textbox, enter the total monthly payment on your mortgage including principal & interest, taxes, insurance, etc. In the second textbox, enter your gross monthly income (see how we calculated above). I did some sample data entry and here is what I came up with. This tool can be directly accessed from this link: www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/get-assistance/payment-reduction/Pages/default.aspx
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