What is Open Access? And why should I care?

October 20, 2009 · Posted in News For Homebuyers

No it’s not some sort of new, high tech way to search for homes or anything like that. It’s the latest “enhancement” in Freddie Mac’s refi program. Let me give you a few details:

If your loan was sold to Freddie Mac originally.
If your loan doesn’t have mortgage insurance right now.
If you don’t owe over 125% of what the house is worth (in today’s market, not what you paid for it).
Then you can take advantage of the Freddie Mac Open Access program.

Now you’re probably thinking – so what’s new? That’s been in effect since like February or March?

Wrong – until now, you’ve had to work with the lender who wrote your loan. If your loan was bought by Chase, you needed to work with Chase. If it was bought by Bank of America, well, you get the picture.

Not any more. Now, for any loans that don’t have mortgage insurance and were sold to Freddie Mac, you can go through any lender that has been approved to do Freddie Mac “Open Acess” loans. That’s right, you can actually choose which lender you want to do your mortgage with! (As long as they are approved to do these loans.