Yeah, I'm in the same boat....I keep on keeping on....but my mortgage is too new to refinance under this deal. I already have a fairly low mortgage rate (5-1/8) and less than 15% equity this early, so the savings wouldn't be as great for me, but it would still be a savings.
And gorski, you're right about the liar loans to an extent....there was a time when you could get a house appraised for whatever you needed it to appraise for....before the bubble burst. I'm also quite certain that a lot of fictional and unverified income information was used. For people in that case, under this plan, they would be able to refinance and take advantage of lower interest rates. So, a guy that inflated his income information to qualify....or a guy that got the benefit of an inflated appraisal....gets a get-out-of-jail-free card here and can refi at lower rates and drop their payments. BUT, at least they have to be current on their loans....so even if they did fudge the numbers to qualify, they still had to be making their payments. At least that stipulation is in there.
It's basically a stimulus package. The gubment thinks that by allowing some people to refi at lower rates it will reduce their monthly mortgage payment, in which case they will spend more in the marketplace each month. Many of these people are probably only current on their mortgage because they are living on credit cards to pay everything else...much of what they save in lower mortgage payments may end up going right back to the banks anyway to pay off credit cards.
I think it's much to do about nothing.
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