Manhattan Residents May Be Due A HUD Refund

MANHATTAN, IL — Does the federal government owe you money? A joint investigation by NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago Responde revealed that thousands of Chicago-area families were owed money by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.

The refunds are tied to mortgage insurance premiums that homebuyers paid years back on loans through the Federal Housing Administration, designed for homebuyers with little or low credit history. The FHA loans required homebuyers to purchase mortgage insurance as a condition of the loan. Those insurance premiums were paid to the FHA.

Depending on when buyers eventually sold the property purchased, they may have overpaid their mortgage insurance premiums, leading to money owed them by HUD, according to the NBC 5/Telemundo investigation.

More than 30,000 homebuyers alone in the Chicago-area amounting to $16.8 million are due refunds from HUD, which range from a few dollars to thousands, including residents in the Manhattan area. The average refund being around $1,000.

To find out if you or a family member is owed money by HUD, you can search your name in the HUD database. If you’re on the list, click here to find your refund on HUD’s website, and start the process towards obtaining it.