Posted May 07, 2018 11:00:10 The GOP is proposing a $5,000 home maintenance credit for eligible households that have been on the market for a year or more, as part of its “Home Maintenance Assistance for Americans Act.”
The bill, which was unveiled Thursday, would be in addition to the existing $1-million credit that was previously available to those looking to pay their bills.
The credit would be available for up to five years for anyone who has been on a long-term fixed-rate mortgage and has been paying their mortgage over the past five years, and for anyone on a fixed-income plan who has paid their mortgage in full over the last five years.
The bill also would allow homeowners to apply for up the maximum amount of credit that they may qualify for, up to $5.5 million.
In 2018, there were 3.2 million Americans on fixed-rates mortgages, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
As of March 31, the total value of all of the mortgage-backed securities outstanding was more than $8.9 trillion, according the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Senate bill also has some good news for those who want to get rid of their current fixed-interest rate mortgage.
Currently, the interest rate is 6.85 percent on new loans and 8.8 percent on existing loans, according a Senate Finance Committee aide.
The new rate would be 0.7 percent, which is higher than the 6.7 to 8.4 percent on most other types of mortgages.
Republicans are also proposing a “Homeowner Assistance for the American Homeowner Act.”
This would provide financial assistance to households who have not yet paid their mortgages, and also to those who have been out of the market, and are now receiving aid from the government.
“We want to make sure that we’re helping people who have fallen on hard times, and that is what the Homeowner Assistance Act does,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who sponsored the bill.
Democrats have already signaled they’re interested in the bill, and have asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to introduce the legislation in the coming weeks.
Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.