Senate passed a $300 billion bill on Saturday in anticipation that it will rescue troubled homeowners from foreclosures and that it will support mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CNNMoney.com reported.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law within days; it would then go into effect as early as Oct. 1. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 400,000 borrowers with $68 billion in loans would benefit from the new legislation.

In order to qualify for the financial support that the new law would provide, borrowers must live in their homes and have loans that were issued between January 2005 and June 2007. Additionally, they must be allocating at least 31 percent of their gross monthly income toward repaying their mortgage debt.

Borrowers must prove that they will not be able to keep up with their current mortgage payments and attest that they are not deliberately defaulting just to obtain lower payments. Homeowners can be up-to-date on their mortgage payments or in default.

However, homeowners must retire any other debt on their homes before they can receive Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages, and can not take out another home equity loan for at least five years unless it’s for necessary upkeep on the home.

Lastly, to get a new home equity loan, borrowers will need to get Federal Housing Administration approval and total debt cannot exceed 95 percent of the home’s appraised value at the time.