The short version of this story is that I’ve hit a roadblock in refinancing my underwater house under HARP 2.0. I cant get approval from Fannie Mae, despite stellar credit ratings and a strong balance sheet. Fannie Mae has five levels of HARP 2.0 ratings – Approved, Extended Approval I, II, and III, and Ineligible. Most places are currently only refinancing Approved and EA-I ratings. Many folks are getting EA-III approvals however, and there is really no recourse – Fannie Mae wont be able to tell you why specifically you’re getting that rating since its a software program that is spitting out only an answer with no justification as to why.
So now I sit and wait. I have two options – wait for mortgage companies to start accepting ratings below EA-I, or wait a few months and try again and see if my rating has changed between now and then.