HARP 2.0 lender with no bankruptcy overlay

The 4 year wait period after a chapter 7 discharge is a hard-and-fast fannie mae rule, not a lender overlay. Fannie does have a provision to reduce it to 2 years in a hardship case. You may qualify since it was business related and your mortgage and other personal bills were paid on time. In my opinion that would be the soonest you would qualify. Other lenders will post here and may have additional ideas. Hopefully one can help you.

Wow, really? This is a copy/paste from the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, Chapter B3-5.3-07: Bankruptcy (Chapter 7 or Chapter 11) - A four-year waiting period is required, measured from the discharge or dismissal date of the bankruptcy action. Exceptions for Extenuating Circumstances - A two-year waiting period is permitted if extenuating circumstances can be documented, and is measured from the discharge or dismissal date of the bankruptcy action.

I checked with some colleagues and understand that if you go through your existing loan servicer that fannie will allow them to ignore the waiting period. I presume you have checked with them? If you switch servicers then lenders must abide by the standard fannie mae requirements.

Here is the update to the Fannie Mae Selling Guide. There is no waiting period for a HARP Refinance.B5-5.2-02DU Refi Plus transaction are not required to comply with the waiting period and re-establishment of credit requirements for significant derogatory credit events. DU will issue a message when a significant derogatory credit event is identified that indicates the loan is eligible for delivery regardless of when the event occurred.