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RBS: HARP 2.0 allows just 17% of GSE mortgages to refinance - by KERRI PANCHUK - Housingwire

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Refi plan: If homeowners win, someone else loses - Kathleen Pender - The government's new plan to let more underwater homeowners refinance their mortgage is a good deal for homeowners who qualify, but for every dollar they save in monthly payments, someone will lose. That someone is whoever owns the mortgage being refinanced. Mortgage owners include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned entities that own and guarantee home loans; the Federal Reserve, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, endowments and other investors worldwide. From a cash-flow standpoint, "it's a zero sum game," says banking analyst Bert Ely. - SF Chronicle
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(lots of info) HARP's Rep and Warranty Waiver: Will It Spark a Refinancing Frenzy? - BY: CARRIE BAY - DS News
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(sell 'em - about HARP2) Rep. Neugebauer: Move the properties not the mortgages - by JON PRIOR - ... "This is not a housing initiative. This is more of a stimulus plan," Neugebauer said in an interview with HousingWire Tuesday. "They're using Fannie and Freddie to stimulate the economy and what we've learned is that is not working." ... - Housingwire

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Obama's Re-Fi Plan: The Perfection of Debt-Serfdom - Charles Hugh Smith - How better to corral restive underwater debt-serfs than to herd them into accepting a new, "better" set of lifelong servitude shackles? - Of Two Minds

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Obama provides a stealth bailout to loan owners - by IrvineRenter - By directing the GSEs to relax their eligibility requirements for refinancing, the Obama administration will increase the losses on the GSE portfolio and add to the final cost of the bailout. ... I got an email from an appraiser right after this was announced. By removing the LTV restriction, the government is taking appraisers entirely out of the refinance transaction. Further, it basically says the value of the collateral doesn't matter. No matter how far underwater the owner is, they are eligible for the refinance. That doesn't sound like a good banking practice to me. ... - Irvine Housing Blog

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Another Harebrained Mortgage Plan From the White House - Thomas Brown - If anything, it will make things worse than they are now - Bankstocks.com
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Big Four Set to Participate in HARP 2.0 - BY: CARRIE BAY - The industry’s four largest mortgage servicers all say they will be taking part in the revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have each expressed their support of the program and the changes that will allow more underwater homeowners to refinance at today’s lower interest rates. Government officials expect the program’s revisions – particularly the GSEs’ waiver on representations and warranties – to increase competition for mortgage refinancing. - DS News

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(HARP2) Refinancing mortgages, buying votes - Glenn Cook - President Obama's latest housing intervention will not prevent foreclosures, lift the housing market or boost the economic recovery, even though he promised as much Monday in Las Vegas.
Not even he believes a single, small executive decision can work such miracles. No, his administration's expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program is about one thing, and one thing only: beating likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney in Nevada and other states with depressed real estate markets one year from now - Las Vegas Review-Journal

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