Tag Archives: Housing Finance Agency

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency's new Foreclosure Prevention Fund is now available statewide through participating HUD-approved counseling agencies. Financed by the Department of Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund, the federal grant money will be used to financially assist homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages due to job loss or other temporary hardships. The agency expects the program to enable 21,000 North Carolina residents to keep their homes.

In October, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation launched a program designed to help unemployed and underemployed homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. The pilot program is currently being offered to Lee County homeowners but will be expanded statewide in early 2011. This week the corporation announced they will open the eligibility requirements for the program, allowing homeowners who are up to 180 days delinquent on their mortgages to qualify for the service.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both issued notices to servicers that they must work closely with state housing finance agencies to provide mortgage assistance to homeowners who've lost their jobs. Treasury awarded $7.6 billion for housing agencies in certain states to develop programs that provide temporary relief to unemployed homeowners. Effective immediately, GSE servicers are instructed to accept all monthly mortgage payments from housing finance agencies on behalf of borrowers enrolled in state-specific programs.

On Monday, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation will launch a pilot program to help unemployed and underemployed homeowners with their mortgage payments. The pilot will test the waters for the state's planned use of its federal dollars allocated through the Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund. Assistance is only available to Lee County homeowners during the 90-day pilot period, but officials say they plan to go statewide during the first part of 2011.

The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal on Wednesday awarded $848,384 to the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) and the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (DCA's OFE). The money has been allotted to provide free financial counseling and to expand CNYCN's call center operations for at risk homeowners, which takes calls from New York City's general information line.

Chase announced this week that it plans to participate in Michigan's Hardest Hit Fund program to offer assistance to homeowners in the state who are receiving unemployment benefits. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority designed the program to help borrowers stay current on their mortgage even after they have lost their jobs. Chase will partner with the state agency to make the program available to its customers. The program will pay up to half of qualified borrowers' monthly mortgage payments for up to 12 months.

Earlier this year, the California Housing Loan Insurance Fund (CaHLIF) ceased writing new mortgage insurance policies. The insurance fund is administered by the California Housing Finance Agency. Effective immediately, Fannie Mae says it is suspending CaHLIF as an approved mortgage insurer.

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) has partnered with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to offer a fixed rate, 30-year FHA-insured mortgage to low- and moderate- income California families who purchase their first home. Benefits include below-market interest rates and affordable down payments. CalHFA says many first-time homebuyers cannot meet the loan requirements of conventional lenders and its new program will help open the door to homeownership for California families.

In the first quarter of 2010, state housing finance agencies' (HFAs) delinquencies declined for the first time since overall performance of loans began to deteriorate in the second quarter of 2008, according to Standard & Poor's. But the agency's analysts say the slowdown could be only temporary. S&P's study shows delinquency rates for HFA loans remain high relative to a year ago. However, the percentage of HFA loans at least 60 days past due or in foreclosure decreased to 6.05 percent in Q1, down from 6.57 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Loan Value Group recently announced that its Responsible Homeowner Reward (RH Reward) program has been included as an alternative resource in Ohio's Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) plan for homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage but may not qualify for the official state-run programs. The RH Reward program provides cash incentives to homeowners who remain current on their mortgages, and Ohio says it is a valuable incentive to deter strategic default and even reduce principal for some borrowers with negative equity.