Since the Hope for Homeowners program has been a failure so far in helping any homeowners avoid foreclosure, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston announced today that standards for the program are being relaxed in the hopes that some actual borrowers might be helped by the program. The three most significant changes to the program are 1) allowing a loan to value of 96.5 percent for some H4H loans, 2) simplifying the process for removing subordinate liens by allowing upfront payments to lienholders and 3) Allowing lenders to stretch the terms on the mortgage to 40 years which theoretically could help with debt ratio problems.

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