WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee last week approved bills to repeal two Obama administration programs aimed at helping refinance troubled homeowners, including the Home Affordable Modification Program, which has subsidized more than two dozen mortgage refis through credit unions.
The bills are widely expected to be approved by the full House as soon as this week, but are expected to face more difficulty in the Senate. In addition, President Obama has threatened to veto the bills.
HAMP was originally projected to help as many as 4 million homeowners refinance their mortgages, but by the end of 2010 only 522,000 homeowners had received permanent modifications under HAMP.
HAMP pays mortgage-servicing firms to modify mortgages and find other ways to keep people in their homes.
The other mortgage assistance programs eyed for elimination are the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the FHA Refinance Program and the Emergency Homeowner Relief Fund.
