fannie mae Harp 2.0 Refi.. Stuck with original Lender? Please Advise.

Refinancing under the HARP program when you have a loan with LPMI (lender paid mortgage insurance) adds significant difficulty in the ability for lenders to assist you. How LPMI works is basically you still have mortgage insurance, but instead of having a separate standard monthly mortgage insurance, your mortgage insurance is built into the interest rate. Therefore any legitimate HARP refinance quote WILL BE a HIGHER RATE than you see advertised elsewhere. For most people, an LPMI loan provided them with significant savings in the early years of the loan over a standard loan with monthly PMI. I'm no fan of PHH, but their offer is likely realistic, when the low 4% quote is not.

You will need to convert the Lender paid MI to Borrower paid MI. You need to find a broker in your area that is not afraid to tackle this deal for you. I only Lend in Florida!

What the other two gentleman said is not necessarily true. If the LPMI was paid as a single premium to the mortgage insurance company then reassigning that policy to a new lender is very easy and your rate will be as low as it would normally be. You would not need to take a higher rate to account for the LPMI because you have already paid for it. Now if PHH is paying the mortgage insurance on a monthly basis to the insurnace company, that would present an issue. Would be happy to look into this further for youJoe CafieroGuaranteed Rate IncVP of Mortgage Lending ph: 610 594-6611email: joe.cafiero@guaranteedrate.com