At last night's State of The Union address, President Barack Obama's ambitious push for raising the federal minimum wage was a buzz. But he also, briefly, brought up the bill in Congress that would give homeowners a $3,000 savings per year if they refinance at current low rates.
He said that even with home prices rising, home buying and construction growing families are still being rejected from refinancing.
"That's holding our entire economy back," Obama said, "and we need to fix it."
This was the same bill sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.), that would remove appraisal costs and restructure borrowers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was pushed early last year, but keeps getting stalled over partisanship. It was supposed to be taken up in November, and even that was postponed in the Senate.
Under the current policy, even when some families have good credit they're being rejected. In other cases there are opportunities, for instance Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac borrowers have the opportunity to apply for Home Affordable Refinance Program, HARP that could have no appraisal for some. HARP is only available until the end of this year from any lender, according the Freerateupdate.com.
Refinancing isn't the only issue that's created problems; experts want a complete overhaul in the housing market.
The day before the State of the Union, the Huffington Post revealed the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as the co-chair. The unit would expose and indict those fraudulently benefiting from the housing crisis.
Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) delivered the GOP's response to the address and blamed big government policies that created the housing crises.
"And the truth is every problem can't be solved by government," Rubio said. "Many are caused by the moral breakdown in our society."
