Federal agency offers help fending off foreclosure

Homeowners can refinance through new FHA program

Struggling homeowners with plummeting property values may now be able to avoid foreclosure by refinancing their mortgages through a new federal program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said yesterday.

HUD Secretary Steve Preston unveiled the so-called Hope for Homeowners program that aims to help distressed borrowers refinance into more affordable 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages with the backing of the Federal Housing Administration.

The program targets borrowers whose homes are worth less than the outstanding amount of their mortgages and who would otherwise not be able to refinance. Borrowers must be owner-occupants in their primary residence who made at least six mortgage payments before falling behind. Some borrowers whose mortgages do not exceed current property values may qualify.

Congress this summer approved the effort, estimated to help as many as 400,000 distressed homeowners nationally avoid foreclosure, as part of legislation to address problems with the nation's ailing housing market. Lawmakers now are considering expanding the program as part of the $700 billion package to bail out the nation's financial system, since the credit crisis originated with risky home loans that went bad.

The FHA, created in 1934 to deal with a housing crisis sparked by the Great Depression, provides mortgage insurance to approved lenders who issue loans for first-time home buyers or those with less-than-perfect credit.

"For homeowners in trouble, this may be the help they need," Preston said. "I strongly encourage homeowners and lenders to look into this program and other FHA products without delay."

Participating lenders can refinance homeowners into new FHA-insured loans of up to $550,440. If necessary, the lender would be required to write down a portion of the debt so the new mortgage doesn't exceed 90 percent of the property's new appraised value. In turn, lenders avoid what can be costly foreclosures.

And if home values recover to the point where the homeowner makes a profit on the sale of their property, the FHA is entitled to part of the equity. For example, if borrowers sell within one year of refinancing, they would have to surrender all the extra proceeds from the sale. After five or more years, the FHA still is entitled to 50 percent of any equity in the home, a part of which could be distributed to secondary lien holders.

Housing advocates, desperate for help for struggling homeowners, are skeptical that lenders will participate. The number of foreclosure deeds in Massachusetts rose to 8,804 for the first eight months of this year.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley this week released data she said showed too many homeowners go into foreclosure without receiving "meaningful assistance" from the firms that service their mortgages. Her office analyzed 144 mortgages that were modified by lenders in Massachusetts recently; not one reduced the principal mortgage balance, as is expected under the FHA program, and almost none reduced monthly payments.

"Meaningful loan modifications simply are not occurring, despite the industry's promises to the contrary," Coakley said. "Loan modifications stabilize the marketplace, stop the escalation of foreclosures, and ensure cash flow so that mortgages and mortgage-backed investments can again be valued."

Bank of America spokesman Terry Francisco said the institution, which owns Countrywide Financial, supports the program and is looking for eligible customers to participate.

"We expect that it will contribute to efforts to bring stability to the housing market," Francisco said. "And we believe it will help both homeowners and investors alike."

Jennifer McKim can be reached at jmckim@globe.com.