Want Harp Refinance but have title lien

[DLBKRB]

I'm in California. We had a bad patch when my husband was forced into retirement and we couldn't pay credit cards. Long story is that there are now a couple liens against our title. We are paying off bit by bit, but because the mortgage is 6.375% we need everything "extra" to pay that instead of paying liens. We tried to get Harp re-fi but were told by Chase that they can't do it until the liens are paid off. Catch 22. I even asked about doing the re-fi to include an amount to pay off liens and the answer was still that they can't do a re-fi until the liens are paid off. Any suggestions?

 

[HUD-1]

I think allowing unsecured credit card debt to become secured was a big mistake. Will the holder of these liens subordinate to a new HARP refi first mortgage? Will the lender be ok with a subordination of the secondary liens? The lender may be stating that they think your front end debt ratios are too high based on the secondary lien(s) and that the only way to qualify is by paying them off.

 

[swalsh411]

Try a different lender.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Sell and buy a cheaper home or move to a cheaper state. You keep on the course you have charted and you will soon bury yourselves.

 

[DLBKRB]

Selling and moving is not an option as we plan to be here the rest of our lives (and capital gains tax would kill us). Different lender not an option as then we'd have to qualify and pay points and all kinds of things. All we want to do is lower the interest rate. Our mortgage person at Chase said the ONLY thing keeping us from being able to re-fi is that the TITLE company won't insure with the liens. That would be the case even if we did try another lender. It's the title company, not the lender (sorry, I forgot to mention that). I don't even think that subordination would make a difference since the title insurance is the problem. But I'll see if the collection agency will take the lien off while we through a re-fi, and put in a repayment agreement with the difference the lessor payment would be.