New Online Freddie Mac Tool Helps Homeowners Navigate Relief Options

For homeowners facing a financial hardship, sometimes it can be difficult to know exactly what options are available.

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To help homeowners get a better idea of what is out there, ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ released the ""Mortgage Help Navigator"":http://www.freddiemac.com/homeownership/tools/mortgage_help_navigator.html, a new online tool that assists homeowners with finding out what relief options might be applicable for them in their specific situation.

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""Over the past 18 months, we greatly enhanced and expanded our foreclosure prevention policies and programs so we designed the Mortgage Help Navigator to help ensure that homeowners are learning about the right ones for their individual needs,"" wrote Tracy Mooney, SVP of single-family servicing and REO, in a recent blog post.

Since 2009, the GSE has helped over 830,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure and has refinanced about 1 million loans under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

Freddie Mac has also helped another 10,000 homeowners who were victims of Hurricane Sandy find temporary mortgage relief.

Workouts also lead to significant savings for companies. According to the GSE, the income lost from modifying a loan is about one fourth the cost of liquidating a property.

The GSE also says it expects short sale timelines to decrease 50 to 75 percent due to program enhancements, and two-thirds of REOs sold by Freddie Mac go to homeowner occupants.

Efforts to avoid foreclosure have also helped the GSE cut its single-family seriously delinquency rate by 30 percent to under 3 percent, a first since mid-2009, the GSE states.