HARP Questions

[yankebabie]

Anyone that has financed thru HARP. Does the paperwork say HARP on it. I got my paperwork today. Does not say HARP anywhere on it. I was told refinancing thru HARP that there is no appraisal fee, Good Faith estimate says $410 for appraisal. Loan Officer told me $2765 in closing cost. Good Faith Estimate says $6060. Something doesn't feel right here. Trying to do this thru Bank of America with whom my original mortage is with. Got a huge envelope full of papers to read and sign. Thought this HARP process was simple. Please offer any advice or knowledge.

 

[dsneprincess]

We did. Nothing said HARP. All the fees were listed, we weren't responsible for. It was slow, but pretty easy. No appraisal was needed, but a few hundred phone calls were. It seemed too good to be true to us, but it was legit! Good luck!

 

[yankebabie]

But my new loan amt says $134, 000 but I only currently owe $128, 400. So they really are charging me $6000 in closing. Why??

 

[MomToOne]

What is the breakdown of fees on your good faith estimate? They do seem very high. But is it really all closing costs, or does the $6K also include pre-payments into an Escrow account?

As far as the appraisal goes, I am refinancing through HARP right now too, and I unfortunately have to get a real appraisal. HARP allows the appraisals to be done by computer model in many cases but only when it is deemed reliable. Some neighborhoods are harder to peg than others, so a physical appraisal is still required by HARP in those situations. Also, some banks are requiring them more than others from the sounds of things - they do still have some say in all of this. (My loan officer at Chase said 50% of his refis were coming up requiring appraisals, but I got the feeling that was a possibly just a complete lie by him to get me to stop bugging him about it - when I pushed back about WHY I got stuck with an appraisal despite the Chase website saying that most people don't, he didn't really have much of an answer other than "the computer is telling me you need one". Yes, I think he's an idiot at this point, or worse. I also discovered 2 other pieces of misinformation I was given during the process.) My appraisal fee is $460.

 

[yankebabie]

My breakdown of good faith goes like this:

$672-origination charge
$410-full appraisal
$89-tax service fee
$35-credit report fee
$17-flood check fee
$1268-title services & lenders title insurance ( why do I pay for their title insurance?)
$500-govt recording charges
$980-transfer tax
$1441-initial escrow deposit
$155-daily int charges (says its interest from your settlement date until first of the month. 13 days in my case)
$492-homeowners insurance

Does all this sound right?

 

[MomToOne]

My breakdown of good faith goes like this:

$672-origination charge
$410-full appraisal
$89-tax service fee
$35-credit report fee
$17-flood check fee
$1268-title services & lenders title insurance ( why do I pay for their title insurance?)
$500-govt recording charges
$980-transfer tax
$1441-initial escrow deposit
$155-daily int charges (says its interest from your settlement date until first of the month. 13 days in my case)
$492-homeowners insurance

Does all this sound right?

The 6K does include your escrow deposits as well as closing costs. I thought the escrow deposit could not be rolled in to the loan like that and you had to pay it at closing, but maybe I'm wrong????

Keep in mind that if you have a balance in your escrow account on your current loan, that will be refunded to you so that may wash out some of the cost of the new escrow deposits.

What I'm not getting in looking at your numbers: why is your homeowners a separate payment and not included in the escrow deposit? Is it almost due? If that's the case, then the loan agent may not have caught it in your orginal conversation. He may not have caught the transfer tax either.

 

[yankebabie]

I was wondering too why they would list homeowners ins separately and as a matter of fact it was just paid in feb. and I shouldn't have a transfer tax? Why, because we are not selling only refinancing?

 

[yankebabie]

He didn't say anything about needing money on the table at closing. I have left 2 messages for him and he doesn't return my calls. Things just don't seem to be adding up. I really appreciate your help. I am feeling very nervous about this

 

[MomToOne]

I was wondering too why they would list homeowners ins separately and as a matter of fact it was just paid in feb. and I shouldn't have a transfer tax? Why, because we are not selling only refinancing?

My understanding is that you often have to pay the transfer tax on a refinance. It depends on the area. But I'm not a pro, that's just what I've read.

Take a deep breath and don't panic just yet. I've had them make errors on the GFE before, and at other times there's been things I just didn't understand properly - just ask about things and see what they say.

 

[mistysue]

I am mid-refinance right now and my numbers look nearly the same as yours. Even my escrow and home ins. are shows separate, I think it's for them to track the different numbers more easily. If they are not talking about you bringing money to the table and the loan amount is more than you owe they are probably planning to roll all of your costs into the new loan. If it helps you any, on mine they put the full amount for one year's taxes and one year's insurance on the estimate in case they are due right away after closing and I've been told that it adjusts down to account for actual due dates.

I would talk to them to verify that you are getting whatever the HARP deal is though, mine is not through HARP. One really easy way to figure it out is this: Are you financing more than 95% of your appraised value? If so, you are in the HARP program. Also, if you are financing between 80-95% and are NOT being charged PMI, you are through HARP. If you are getting PMI, make sure your appraisal is right because they will base your end date on that appraisal. My appraiser is full of crap and unfortunately it's going to cost me a few thousand dollars because he listed all of the high comps in my appraisal, then ignored their numbers. You can only contest an appraisal with comps that aren't listed which he obviously knew. (my house is newer, with deeded lake access and more updates, yet is priced ~$12/sq ft less than the comps!)

 

[dsneprincess]

Our new loan number was more than our outstanding mortgage, too. We didn't "miss" a payment, but there was a transition time from old to new mortgage where no payment was due, so that was forwarded & rolled into the new mortgage. According to the lawyer who did our closing, at our home on a Saturday morning, the mortgage company has to disclose & "pay" all the fees, even if it is just moving them on paper. I freaked about all the fees & wordings, like escrow which kept coming in the kajillion documents we were sent, because we didn't have it in our old loan. I was told the documents are "standards" & my situation was different & it wouldn't change & it didn't. Did I keep calling & asking? You betcha. It also took over the 90 day lock in period, through no fault of our own, but they did extend. We were at 7pm Friday night, with a 10 am closing Saturday morning, when lawyer called ME to ask why he had no documents or final numbers! They came through at about 10pm night before, so I guess banker's hours are pretty much a joke, too!

 

[yankebabie]

My concern is that if I sign loan papers for $134,000 then how will they make any adjustments after the fact regarding the escrow?

 

[Swimalie]

My understanding is that you often have to pay the transfer tax on a refinance. It depends on the area. But I'm not a pro, that's just what I've read.
.

Same here. We just refinanced (traditional refinancing) and had to pay $608 for the transfer tax. I was told some counties require it and others don't.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Remember the GFE is an estimate. Any overage will be refunded to you. And yes they do have to include the Ins. if it has already been paid it will be refunded. Its just how they have to list the items. They have to list what the cost is and then in the end it will get refunded. As for no closing there are always fees that have to be paid and it looks like rather than having to pay them they are putting them into the loan equalling no money to refinance.. So yes your loan is for 134K.

 

[yankebabie]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input and help. I feel much better about things. You guys are the best!

 

[Kellydelly]

We closed last Friday on our HARP refi with BOA. Our GFE had all kinds of fees and things that did not end up being charged to us. Went from $3000 and some change down to only $400 and some change actual loan fee at closing. I believe the initial loan amount was going to be $119000, but what we signed for was closer to $115000, which represents the difference between the estimated fees and what was really charged (or not charged). I think your numbers are probably right, and I was as confused as you are when they were mailed to me!

 

[yankebabie]

Your right, it is very confusing. But the loan papers we got in mail say $134, 000 so does that mean it can still change. We are also going through BoA. We are in very early stages, just got welcome package with GFE and stuff. Did you have to have cash at closing?

 

[maxaroni]

We refinanced using th HARP program. We used our same lender and was told we would get all sorts of paperwork and basically ignore it, such as the GFE. As it was explained to us they must go through the process of a refi as normal. Only sign or initial things that were highlighted by our loan officer. When the final package came everything was highlighted and we signed or initialed in front of the notary. We had no closing costs. We were told that we could not change anything on our loan...such as the loan amount. If we did, we couldn't do HARP

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Your right, it is very confusing. But the loan papers we got in mail say $134, 000 so does that mean it can still change. We are also going through BoA. We are in very early stages, just got welcome package with GFE and stuff. Did you have to have cash at closing?

What ever amount is on the loan papers that you sign, will be the amount that your loan will be for. Call and talk to the loan officer handling your case to help put your mind at ease

 

[Jex]

They are over estimating, once they have the payoff, actual escrow reserves requiered, title fees from title company, and other such things it should be adjusted and the loan balance reduced to reflect. Remember, unless its an investment property you have three days after you sign the closing papers to recind the loan, during this time you can review them.