Edith: What is a HARP loan? I have a town home that has depreciated since purchase price. I am current on all bills and mortgage payments, but I would like to find a way to get a lower rate. -- e-mail

Answer: The acronym stands for the Home Affordable Refinance Program. It allows certain homeowners to refinance into a new low fixed-rate mortgage, even borrowing a bit more than their home's current value. It's available for borrowers whose mortgages have been bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the two large organizations on what is known as the secondary mortgage market. The program is intended for borrowers with good payment records.

You can find out if your loan is owned by one of those companies by searching these websites: freddiemac.com and fanniemae.com.

ONE OF FOUR OWNERS

Dear Edith: If my name is one of four to a house, can I force them to buy me out or sell in order to get my name off the deed? -- K.

Answer: You can go to court and request an order for "partition" -- a public auction sale of the property and division of the proceeds. That involves legal expenses and seldom yields true market value. Everybody loses. Perhaps a letter from your lawyer, mentioning the possibility, would be enough to move your co-owners to cooperate.

JOINT TITLE, JOINT LOAN

Dear Ms. Lank: My ex and I own a home with a joint title and joint loan, and I want out. How do I make that happen? -- R. W.

Answer: There's good news and bad news. Getting out of joint title is easy. Getting out of joint loan may not be as easy.

You can sign a deed turning over your share of ownership to your ex. He or she then owns the whole property.

It's not so simple, though, to get out of responsibility for the mortgage loan, even after you no longer have any claim on the property. Perhaps your ex will refinance in his or her name alone. Otherwise, sometimes the lender will release you if your ex is financially qualified and has been making the payments. Sometimes, though, they won't.

In which case -- you're stuck. The entire loan stays on your credit record as your debt. If payments aren't made, those problems show up on the record as well. Continued...