This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
GSEs Expand Housing Subsidy Refinance Model Further, Making It Eligible To Virtually Anyone
Earlier today, the FHFA announced yet another expansion to its attempt to make near-record low mortgage payments a pervasive concept (via the Home Affordable Refinance Program or HARP), and pad retailers' bottom lines courtesy of subsidy bailouts of the GSE capital shortfall payments. The core of the announced transitions to HARP revolve around allowing borrowers to refinance mortgages regardless of how underwater homes are. Of note is the "enhancement" which removes "the current 125 percent LTV ceiling for fixed-rate mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." In other words, one can have negative equity equal to the full amount of the loan or more, and still be able to refinance into current record low mortgage rates (something which last week's near record drop in MBA refi rates of -17% may not be too optimistic on). That said, considering HARP's abysmal success record to date, with just 894,000 borrowers having refinanced using this subsidy program (considering anywhere between a third and half of all US mortgages are underwater), and since it is far more economic to be delinquent on one's loans than to refinance and actually have to pay something out of pocket in these here USS of A, we expect even this latest revision to be a massive failure. In fact, the only data that matters is the public announcement on November 3 and 4th of how many tens of billions in retail "top line" the GSEs will need to be funded for by the US Treasury, because at this point one thing is all too clear: the nationalized US mortgage industry, in which ever fewer people actually make any cash payments, is nothing but a massive subsidy pass thru vehicle for domestic retailer operations.
From the HARP term sheet:
The new program enhancements address several other key aspects of HARP including:
- Eliminating certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages and lowering fees for other borrowers;
- Removing the current 125 percent LTV ceiling for fixed-rate mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;
- Waiving certain representations and warranties that lenders commit to in making loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;
- Eliminating the need for a new property appraisal where there is a reliable AVM (automated valuation model) estimate provided by the Enterprises; and
- Extending the end date for HARP until Dec. 31, 2013 for loans originally sold to the Enterprises on or before May 31, 2009.
And so forth.
Below is the full statement full of hope by FNMA CEO Michael Williams on the HARP changes:
"Today's announcement by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) of enhancements to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) is a welcome development. By removing some of the impediments to refinance, lenders can more easily participate in the program allowing more eligible homeowners to take advantage of the low interest rates.
Since 2009, Fannie Mae has enabled more than 5.5 million families to refinance into a lower cost or more stable mortgage product. While HARP is only one refinancing program, it is a critical one for those homeowners who may be underwater on their mortgage and facing difficult decisions during these tough economic times. Fannie Mae will continue to work with FHFA, Freddie Mac, servicers, lenders and mortgage insurers to encourage more borrowers to pursue refinancing as interest rates remain low."
Fannie Mae will also continue to work with retailers, as it demands $20 billion or so in quarterly capital shortfall from Tim Geithner for missing cash which instead of being paid for mortgage purposes, ends up in Apple's EPS line.
Full announcement:
»
- 8674 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
WHERE is Krasting - the ZH resident genius who wrote about this weeks ago
Does it mention anything about, "and this time don't shred the documents when you put them on MERS, asshat"?
Seems like this is an attempted workaround of the legal problems of not having original docs. We'll just make new original docs that will suffice for all purposes. I am the great and all powerful OZ!!!
This is very different than a forced refi into 4% as many expected. This gives homeowners the option to refi. They won't as it means i) getting off your ass, and ii) actually paying mortgages. The ii) is the problem as ever more Americans forgo any mortgage payment completely knowing full well no bank will foreclose on them.
This is pure window dressing to validate precisely point ii).
By the way, how is PrimeX these days?
just off lows. for now the selling/shorting pressure has moderated
that's a bit misleading for those living in non-judicial states like california. two houses in my block were foreclosed upon in the last 3 months. them fuckers (banksters) move fast here.
Why pay thousands to refinance your mortgage for a lower payment, when you know you can continue paying nothing at no risk at all?
Must be a cash-out for holiday shopping provision in there somewhere...
GSE loans only,loans originated prior to May 2009, qualifying requirements still intact, etc...DUD.
After reading the replies, it appears that the best financially meaningful game in town is to forgo any mortgage payments completely knowing full well no bank will foreclose on your property.
The only problem with this approach is that the US economy becomes totally dysfunctional and will inevitable collapse.
I am just curious, is there anyone in the White House or in the Congress having any idea of what they are doing by deliberately destroying the US economy?
Or you could be in my boat, where I desperately want to refi into a 15, but can't because I have a non-GSE. It sucks being the only person in america paying my mortgage.
You're not alone, brother. I'm in the exact same position.
Non-GSE, bought what we could afford (under, actually), and never missed a payment. Can't get a refinance because Fannie/Freddie don't own the loan, and the housing values have absolutely collapsed (not quite Vegas levels, but close). I'd love to get out there and start putting some money into the economy, but I'm too busy putting it towards a house that will never be worth what we paid; I know, tiny violins from ZH, we made our decision and should pay, yadda-yadda, but the truth is, our money could be going towards stimulating the economy, rather than stimulating the banksters own bank accounts.
Until they do something for those of us outside of the GSE's (who more than likely are the ones still actually making payments), this will do nothing as far as stopping the collapse and helping the economy. If this is their plan going forward, they might as well just get out of the way, let the market collapse completely, and start over. When homes are worth 1/5th of what people paid for them...let's see how many people stop paying their mortgages then. Maybe at that point the banks will be willing to play "Let's Make a Deal".
The dirty little secret is that most people don't understand how mortgage amortization works. Your payments are frontloaded with the interest, so in your first few years almost your entire payment goes towards 30 years worth of interest. Refinancing after 5 years to a lower rate may help your cash flow, but it won't help pay down your debt, which you get to pay a whole new round of interest on, setting you back another 5 years. So in the end, you may very well depend on paying more in interest dollars by refinincing than you would have by just paying down your original loan.
.. 1 reason they no longer teach proper math in schools instead of feeding children with political correctness crap and 'social sciences' (whatever the fuk that is)
'and 'social sciences' (whatever the fuk that is)'
Economics qualifies I believe.
'Social sciences'...putting a rubber on a banana.
I'm not calling the logic out. But why wouldn't someone refi it? Yeah, over the life you may pay more totally, but there is a time preference for the money. In general, I'd advise people to lower their cash out the door as much as possible.
Under your scenario though, it does seem like "homeowners" are just overtaxed renters.
There is no such thing as homeownership, you only own the right to live in 'your' home however try not to pay taxes or follow the rules and the real owner quickly showes up
Uncle Sam will sell your house on the court steps in a heartbeat for missed tax payments. Sheriff will throw your ass out on the lawn in the rain with all your belongs. Damn straight. We are all renters. Just living under a different lease agreement. That's all.
It all depends on where you are in the payments, your cash/income position, and what your expectations are. There certainly are circumstances wherein a refi would not make sense. Particularly for folks who bought before the mess and already have decent rates. A couple of percentage points is not necessarily a landslide improvement for many. Rather, it is principle balance that is of concern, especially anyone who bought in the last 10 years or less.
The last decade of mortgage banking has conditioned people to think only about payments, because there was the implicit suggestion that you either will wind up refinancing to get "cash out" or to move to another property. In the end many homeowners wound up like Europe - overleveraged and bound by a system that actually expects you to play by the rules (unlike the US and Federal Reserve that make things up as they go, but that's a different topic).
Keep in mind we've had a decade of "historically" low interest rates. Which means the potential rate gain from a refinance is not substantial in many cases.
Time definitely has value, although in the scheme of things people forget about the tail end, the extra XX years you wouldn't have otherwise had a mortgage payment. So not only do you wind up paying more in interest, but you have to tack on the extra payments required to retire the principle since you reset the clock.
For example, let's say 5 years ago you bought a house at $500k with a 5% 30 year mortgage. After 5 years, you would have paid 26% ($120,000) of the total interest due on the loan ($466,000) and you've paid down the principle by $40,000, less than 10% of what you owe. So after 5 years you decide to re-fi at 4% (we'll leave off the transaction fees involved for now). Woohoo! You "save" $350 a month because your payment goes from $2684 to $2330.
And at this point someone staring at an ammortization table might say, "wow, that's not so bad, total interest payments on a 4% loan are only $378k, so even if I add that to the $120k I've already paid, it's only $499k in interest, only $33k more than I would have paid on the 5% loan, so if I "save" $350 a month it's less than 8 years to break even on the interest!
But people forget that they are making mortgage payments for another full 5 years! So in reality the delta is not just a straight interest comparison, because the interest on the new loan is SUPPLANTING principle payments you would have otherwise made. A proper comparison will take the first 25 years of interest on the new loan, and then add the ENTIRE PAYMENT for the last 5 years. The result?
Original 5% loan: $466k interest payments to retire $500k principle in 30 years.
Combined 4% + 5% loans: $624k interest payments from first 5 years of first loan, first 25 years of second loan, and entire payment from final 5 years.
The difference there is $158k, or over 30% of the value of the property, and it takes 5 additional years to retire the debt, for a total of 35 years. Unfortunately, at the "savings" of $350 a month it would have taken 37 years just to break even by refinancing. And that's not counting the transaction fees.
So, you better be saving several hundred basis points of interest, and hopefully you haven't been in the property that long. But we've been in a low interest rate environment so long, it's hard to save that much in interest, and with home sales depressed for a number of years now, there's not that many people who are "new" in their house for whom this would make sense.
In the end, it's the banks that love this, because it fools people into thinking they are saving money by giving them short term cashflow, which reduces their chance of default, and resets the debt clock to keep them as a slave to their mortgage for an additional 60 months.
You'll note the banks are always very accomodating with many of these ideas, as long as they don't include that unmentionable notion of principle forgiveness, which obviously short-circuits the entire debt slavery model.
i guess the question is why can't you just refi the remaining period (25 years) instead of having to do the full 30 years again.
You can get a 25 year loan, but they'll still front-load the interest for the 25 years. That's why it's a RE-finance. The only difference there is that your monthly cash flow "savings" is less, only $250 per month instead of $350. The differential in interest payments goes down, but so does your cash flow savings. For your new 300 month refi'd loan, it would take longer than the entire term to recoup the extra interest you're paying by refinancing. And that's not counting any fees that they stick you for in the process.
Now if you can work out a loan modification that doesn't require the term to reset, hats off to you. But typically that is not what is desired, they want to refinance the entire term of the loan so they get all the interest again.
What about if you're stuck in a high-interest (comparably to today), 30-year loan, in your first 5-10 years, and you refinance down to a (higher than 30 but still lower than what you currently have) 15-year loan. At that point you'd have a shorter term AND a lower rate.
I know that probably doesn't apply to most homeowners, but wouldn't that be a case where it would work out better? Of course, most of those people probably don't even qualify for the new program adjustments, so it's probably a moot point...
There are some scenarios that make sense, especially if exotic mortgage products are involved that may have absurd adjustable rate terms, balloon payments, et cetera. But because of the extended duration of very low mortgage rates and relative lack of new homeowners over the last several years, it means the natural supply of healthy/appropriate mortgage refinances is going to be very small. That's not good news for an industry that relies on churn.
So, banks love to see any type of program proposed that could mean they get a whole new round of debt servicing, new transaction fees, lower chance of default, and brand new mortgage documents so they don't have to worry about where they put the old ones after they were transferred 1324819348434 times.
I keep pressing the upvote button, but it only worked one time!
Amazing indeed how many people have such poor math skills. People just buy a "payment" with no regard of how much it costs in the end.
ANd who watches the store on mortgages that shuffled to GSE's that are current and servicer pockets the cash? I would not put it past any of these banksters.
Funny. I was trying to explain this someone the other day.
Just like that test where kids are put in a room with a marshmellow and told that they get double the marshmellows if they wait to eat it - or they can eat it now. Most people today would slap that marshmellow in their fat pie hole before the instructions of the test were even complete.
So, here we go again with another round of liar's loans.
You can prepay the first 5 years of principal after refinancing to avoid this but at today's rates I borrow as much as I can.
The answer to that problem is to take the interest savings and make additional partial prepayments. Then you do indeed get the benefit instead of being set back. Of course, most won't do that....
So it's going from a 125% Loan-to-Value situation to something more than that? Dear lord.
Layering another failed Ponzi onto an existing failed Ponzi.....that's called innovation !
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45013499
One world government, bitchez!
Does there even need to be an actual house backing a mortgage anymore?
Feels like a assessor is just an outsourced tax collector at this point.
what about the poor appraisers? No one will need them to make up bogus numbers anymore. This will really help with price discovery...
The best part is the elimination of appraisals - WTF is this BS
They've already broken the appraisal model, so they might as well.
Who needs stinkin appraisals? Thats so 2005 era...FREE MONEY, bitchez!
Broken or not the truth is, in 2000-2001 real estate appraisers rang a bell that things are heading in wrong direction. Nobody listened, nobody cared at that time, and Alan aka Mr. Age of Turbulence provided markets with additional liquidity and low interest rates for too long too low. At some point the site was shut down.
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20010515000000*/http://appraiserspetition...
http://appraiserspetition.com
http://appraisersforum.com
They had to wait until 100% of former home appraisers were in the SNAP soup line. Check.
Seriously why refinance? Just go into the little computer thing and change my rate from x to x less 2%. Thanks.
Because then the lawyers couldn't make their $5000 drawing up the revised paperwork. It's all a fucking joke, actually. And homeowners are the punchline.
in most non-recourse states a refi will make the borrower sue-able.
very few will do this, free will always be cheaper.
This is mostly a measure of their desperation, but it won't work. A recent Mass. case said the obvious. Once title is fucked up, no one in the chain can grant clear title. Litigation nation on steroids.
BTW - What happens if the bank can't prove it owns the title? Does the homeowner get the property free and clear?
It also gets them a brand-spankin-new Deed of Trust and Original Note, which gets the banks out of their fraudclosure troubles.
There is very little in the FHFA press release. We won't know any real details until Nov 15th at the earliest. I also wouldn't say "virtually anyone" is eligible since this is only for F&F mortgages bought prior to May 31, 2009. The refis won't start until December, and high LTV refis won't start until next year. This is a nothingburger, IMO.
True, but it gives Obummer something to talk about besides who he murdered last week.
Yes. There is also going to be an announcement of some kind of student loan program on Wednesday.
here is casino owner Steve Wynn ranting about unstainable deficits, jobs killing White House and naming names, part 2:
vid and photos added by the Duke... enjoy (1 min 45 secs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwID0Ib3_ZM
wow... a minus 1? must have not liked the sun bear snippet...
all the guys we love to hate are in it: Obama, Holder, Blankfein, Timmy, Uncle Warren...
what? you want to hear Wim Wenders talk about Hollywood killing 3-D as new film language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8GDwSbldg
am sure this has nothing to do regarding the robo signing fraud! i'd rather have a free house, than re-finance!
Exactly, Sabra- this isn't about "helping the homeowner"- this is about cleaning up the mess whereas most current mortgages are no longer secured by the property- it's a misdirection to make people think they're getting a pass on reporting actual value of their home in order for the mortgage company to re-secure the loan to the house!
OR people could do this- stop paying on their current mortgages, which are no longer secured by the house asset, and tell the collectors who threaten to take them to Court to do so, and get another worthless judgement against the unsecured mortgage, and I'll keep the house that I now own free and clear, thanks....
Bottom line- whenever the Government tells you that they're doing you a favor, they're really looking to grease you up......
How can these types of loans not blow up in Fannie and Freddie's face? They're doing the same exact thing that the banks did during the housing boom.
Soo.. Now your telling me I can have my house HARPED? can I move out first? Must check Homeowners Ins.
III
Oh fuck it all, someone pass the dirty hopium needle over here.
There is no way the housing market will bottom, much less recover as long as our insipid government continues to be involved in housing and the mortgage market. The longer they try to prop up a broken, insolvent market, the longer the recovery will take.
If they just let market forces work, I know a ridiculous concept for our politicians with IQs of at least 45, then we can bottom. Without any help from govt. it will take a least a decade for the housing market to heal, with their continuous meddling, it will take much, much longer.
We all need a cave, and that is all we need. 1 cave. Period, end of story.
GREAT Butthole Surfer reference, USS of A. Nice Tyler
Well, at least the Washington scum/tyrants are consistent. They exhibit nothing but contempt for free markets and democracy.
When I hear about the lack of participation in these programs, I am encouraged since this could be evidence that the US households have more sense than the goverment thinks. Why would one refinance an uderwater mortgage? From a dollars and cents analysis, make much more sense to sell or foreclose. I understand the gov creates these programs since they feel like they need to do something, but can they really be surprised when no one participates since they make no sense?
Coincidence that HARP rhymes with TARP? Maybe FHFA will buy out the Mets and Citi field...
Buy one house get the second for 50% off
I think this is a conceptual prelude to the program that will be announced shortly offering the ability to refi to underwater, but non-deliquent GSE mortagors.
Interesting that the Q&A focuses on pushing borrowers into lower rate, but shorter amortization period loans (20 yr, 15 yr) with the goal being to get to 100% LTV in a shorter period of time. No addtional cash in the borrowers hands so forget the "stimulative effect" of the refi.
But it sure beats a principal reduction/writedown if you're a bank. Does this make sense to an underwater borrower? You're still paying too much for the house, but under the "a deal's a deal" theory you are getting to pay off your loan quicker so you can get out from under, without paying forever on an underwater deal.
Smells like debt serfdom.
Great, so now uneducated Americans can get their hands on more worthless dollars to feebly prop up their overpriced shitboxes.
Note to FHFA: this plan will not cure the disasterous housing pump-and-dump by Greenspan/Bernake/Bush/Obama. If Obama had brains and balls he'd fire the morons who came up with this garbage plan, and embrace the word "foreclosure," and clear the entire market by cramming down trillions of bad mortgages, making banks eat the entire loss. Housing market cleared in one year, maybe two, lower home prices for young families, and extra money to spend in the real economy instead of loanowners slaving to pay banks.
the nationalized US mortgage industry, in which ever fewer people actually make any cash payments, is nothing but a massive subsidy pass thru vehicle for domestic retailer operations.
So maybe da gub is trying to kick start holiday sales??? Nothing makes any sense any more, and CNBC is telling us things are on the upswing. Oy.
And of course by refinancing, your old impaired note will go by by and the paperwork will be perfect, allowing your home to be seized for non payment.
Just gives the banks a mulligan for the MBS fiasco.
pods
Cynic. You give them too much credit (I think). :D
Point well made about the "value" of going delinquent on the loan. Even if the bank's were trying to approve people for the program the economics of interest-rate-only loan mod's is absurd. Without meaningful principle reductions the program is destined to fail. Anyone with a calculator can see that when a high dollar asset like a house declines even a small amount in value it eclipses any savings from an interest rate reduction until you get out 10+ years on the amort table.
These type programs should make it crystal clear the still deteriorating condition of the banks. For the responsible, you will continue to pay for the excesses of the deadbeats that bought more than they could afford, and the banks that leant them the $. We all loose this time.
I don't understand the US housing / mortgage market.
Here in the UK, if you don't pay your mortgage, the bank reposses the house.
How can homeowners in the US get away without paying a mortgage for so long without being thrown out?
Squatters rights. You have that in the U.K. right? Similar thing here. Different name, different fine print. But basically the same.
In the boom the banks fucked up all the paperwork so bad that the banks can't prove they have the right to foreclose.
If the bank didn't screw up the paperwork, it still usually is taking them a year or more to foreclose. Probably because they don't want to write down the loan for what it will actually sell for.
Exactly. They'd rather wait a year or two and hope something better works out for the person defaulting, and then when it does, they can come back and "forgive them" (plus $750 in processing fees) and come out looking like the good guy...all the while ignoring the fact that they dodged a bullet, either because they can't prove they even own the mortgage to begin with, or because they'd have to sell the house at a 60% loss.
What this is really about are the people who have seconds on their homes. One of the hardest things to overcome in refi's are the folks who used their homes to pay off credit cards, buy furniture, go on vacations, etc. Now they are paying 2 notes and cannot get out of either. The hope is to combine and extend.
Don't you know the pressure is going to come on the appraiser's once again to get the most out of the house. I think the new rules require at least 2 independent appraisals. All in a market that is still going down without the over 2 million homes still being held by Freddy and Fannie, yet to be released.
Actually in this new program the need for an appraisal is waived and the participating banks have agreed to subjugate any second mortgages to the refi.
Sweet Jesus, I missed that. They must know they are screwed. On successful short sales, seconds are getting about nine cents on the dollar.
What an incredible opportunity! Now is the time!
I spent the morning researching my brother's impending move to Mission Viejo, Ca and almost instantly found this:
26615 Sotelo Mission Viejo, CA 92692
Sold on May 13, 2011 for $535,000
Short sale on Sept 20, 2011 for $267,500.
Estimated monthly P&I: $1,149!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course if you're the bank, the HOA, or even the seller this isn't so great, and thus the desperate attempts to stop it, but if you're a buyer, not in your lifetime will the dream of homeownership present a better opportunity in the right market with a little luck and research.
Buy now or be priced out forever ever ever ever....
Puhleeze.
I believe this situation is referred to as mortgage fraud? Tell us more about this, I am intrigued.
Where are you getting these numbers? WTF?
Sold on May 13, 2011 for $535,000
Short sale on Sept 20, 2011 for $267,500. 560,000
Fixed it for ya
http://www.trulia.com/homes/California/Mission_Viejo/sold/248613-26615-S...
A short sale for half the price in only 4 months? C'mon man!
How nice of them. Hey. They want to give the poor masses every opportunity to stay in thieir horrible deal that will bleed them dry forever even though their is no mechanism to which they can legaly bind them to stay. They can send in the SWAT team for student loan refusals to pay but home loan defaults they are trapped.
i think everyone already likes the re-finance they already have......the one where the banks pay the mortgage, the insurance and the property taxes (plus they have clouded chain of title assignments, so they never can get foreclosed)
its going to be very hard for Obama to beat that.........
I am debt free - I am thinking putting some debt on my principal residence. Sub-4% rates are pretty tempting.
I'm stuck in an ARM that matured 2.5 years ago. With rates as low as they are now and have been, my rate has been well under 4% for the entire time. WTF would I want to pay closing costs to refi into a higher rate loan particularly when I am underwater in an illegal alien and section 8 black rental infested hood with absolutely ZERO chance of ever coming back to anywhere near what I owe in the next decade?? Lots of folks in the same boat as me. Not to mention the suckers who bite for this in Arizona and California who will go from non-recourse to recourse. This is a scam plain and simple.
If anyone would already be eligable... what about this:
Eliminating certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages and lowering fees for other borrowers;
Who could afford stepping from a 30yr to a 15yr...?
Obama is just trying to buy the votes of those in foreclosure with help for home"owners". He'll also make an announcement regarding a plan for student loans to buy off the college kids. Along with his "employment" bill and millionaire's tax, this is all just part of the re-election campaign.
Obama to Unveil New Steps on Housing, Student Loans: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45010718
The other sneaky issue is that many refi must repay into their private mortgage insurance scam; so many times you do all this work in order to save a feww extra hundred a month, but you pay another couple thousand down again up front for the PMI.
Funny how all the those PMI premiums collected over the years - trillions? Yet I have never heard of a bank being "protected" by collecting on this type of insurance.
Its all a scam, becasue after all the banks have ZIRP. You get 4% if you are a good boy.
What another 'effing insult to Amerikans.
The smart money should hold off until summer 2012 when the real voter buyoffs will begin in earnest. I'm not moving a muscle until I see principal write downs occurring. That's where this has got to go unless they are willing to just say fuck it all and let things reset like they should and let people BK like they used to be able to do. There are literally millions of Americans STUCK in homes that they owe more on than they are worth, many significantly owe more than the house is worth. People can't move to take another job, won't pay expensive repair bills because it's just not worth it, Can't take kids to better schools because their existing hoods got taken over by low class renters - like mine. I can't for the life of me even understand why the F I still pay my mortgage. It's a fool's errand...
exactly !....the one who holds out the longest, usually gets the best deal when the other side becomes desperate
alos as i read this , this is only for those who are current on their mortgage....if thats the case, i would change this heading title, from help anyone, to help almost no one
I suppose the advantages to the banks are merely coincidental. This will certainly spare them put-backs and huge related hits to "income" that will support continued sacking of corporate assets by bank executives in the form of "bonuses."
Meanwhile, the serfs will bicker about their neighbors getting a marginally bigger piece of the illusory pie and the taxpayer will fund the entire bankster clusterfuck one more day.
Being unable to refinance is a problem for some. But the bigger problem is that millions of homeowners are underwater. How the fuck is refinancing going to fix that? Oh that's right ... it isn't.