Cheap Obama mortgages to get more expensive

Courtesy of CNN.com

Cheap Obama mortgages to get more expensive

By Les Christie  @CNNMoney March 4, 2014: 11:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Nearly 783,000 homeowners who had their mortgage rates reduced under the government's Home Affordable Modification Program will see their payments increase by an average of almost $200 a month in the next few years, which will likely lead some borrowers to re-default, a federal watchdog warned.

Launched in 2009, HAMP helped troubled borrowers by either reducing the principal they owed or the monthly interest they paid, with many receiving rates as low as 2%.

But modifications under the program remained fixed for only five years and starting this month, the earliest borrowers in the program will begin seeing their rates climb by 1% a year to a high of 5.4%, the Special Inspector General's report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) said.

As a result, some 33,000 borrowers are expected to see their rates increase this year.

Currently, the median mortgage payment among these borrowers is $773 a month. Once all rate hikes are factored in, their payments are expected to climb to a median of $989 a month.

"We're already seeing alarming re-default rates and are really worried that this could lead to more," said special inspector general Christy Romero. "It will be a real challenge for people to pay the higher amounts."

As of November 31, 359,000, or 28%, of borrowers with HAMP-modified mortgages had already re-defaulted on their mortgages and nearly 100,000 more were deemed "at risk" of default, SIGTARP reported.

Four states, including California, Florida, New York, and Illinois, accounted for half of all of the HAMP modifications that are expected to see rates climb. Some borrowers, particularly in expensive coastal markets, could see their mortgage payments climb by as much as $1,700 a month, SIGTARP reported.

The rate increases will begin this year and run through 2021.