The  (HARP) has been designed to complement Making Home Affordable by helping homeowners who have not been delinquent on their monthly mortgage payments, but are still unable to refinance and take advantage of the historically low mortgage rates due to the declining home values, thus raising their current loan-to-value (LTV) over 80%.

President Obama's $75 Billion Making Home Affordable housing stimulus program will assist as many as 9 million homeowners by either making their monthly mortgage payments more affordable, or by stemming foreclosure

Fannie Mae's DU Refi Plus™ and Freddie Mac's Relief Refinance Mortgage are the two mortgage refinance programs that will ultimately make HARP loans a success.

Home Affordable Refinance  loans will allow the flexibility necessary to make the refinance process quicker and more cost-effective for both the borrower and the lender. All HARP loans require less documentation for underwriting, and some HARP loans will not require an appraisal.

To qualify for the Home Affordable Refinance  program, the following criteria must be met:

• Property can be 1 to 4 units for a primary residence or investment property (second homes must be 1-unit)
• Existing mortgage loan must be owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
• Monthly Mortgage Payments must be up-to-date
• Loan-to-value (LTV) must be no more than 105%
• Refinance loan improves the borrower's position

The HARP loan program ends in June 2010