Since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rolled out their “Making Home Affordable” program on March 4, there has been some confusion on the part of borrowers as to which loans are eligible for the program.  As you will remember, the “Making Home Affordable” program established several ways for homeowners who had missed payments or were finding it difficult to make the payments on their loans to get relief through interest rate reductions or possibly actual loan balance reductions to help them stay in their homes. 

The easy answer to the question is that any loan held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may be eligible.  The hard answer to find has been whether an individual loan is held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or another investor. 

That has now changed with the launch of new websites by Fannie and Freddie.  They are very fast, easy to use and will tell a homeowner if either Fannie or Freddie are the holders of their loan.  They do not tell if the homeowner is eligible for the “Making Home Affordable” program - to learn that, you will need to talk to the company where you make your payment.

Even if your loan is not held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the investor who holds your loan may be required to follow the “Making Home Affordable” guidelines if they have received funds under one of the recent federal programs to provide more money to banks.  If you need help, be sure to check…it could have a huge impact on you and your family.

For more information on Bellingham Real Estate or to search for homes in the Bellingham and Whatcom County area visit www.JohnsonTeamRealEstate.com, your one stop Bellingham real estate and community information resource!