The Federal Housing Finance Agency is well along on planning a replacement program for underwater mortgages with an announcement coming “relatively soon,” Freddie Mac CEO Donald Layton said this week. The successor program will be a “relief refinance” initiative, he said in an interview with Inside The GSEs, noting the borrower will be able to refinance “without going through a full new regular credit process.” Layton added that mortgage professionals should think of the new effort as a cousin to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, which is set to expire at the end of the year. There are approximately 325,290 borrowers still eligible for a refinance under the HARP initiative, according to FHFA’s figures.