2009-09-30 Democrats propose crackdown onhousing lenders

[OH-WAMU]

Not quite the mortgage bankruptcy cramdown they were talking before.

Democrats propose crackdown onhousing lenders

Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:20pm EDT
By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to crack down on lenders, curb record high U.S. foreclosure rates and stabilize the housing market was introduced on Wednesday by four U.S. Senate Democrats, including the chamber's assistant majority leader.

"Voluntary efforts to keep families in their homes have failed," said Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

"This bill will force lenders to modify qualified mortgages, create a homeowners assistance program and give states a bigger role in mediation efforts," Durbin said.

The Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009 would not only apply a sterner hand to lenders but also provide billions of dollars in federal relief to borrowers and oblige banks to evaluate qualified homeowners' loans and offer modifications.

It would authorize $6.3 billion in funding to states to offer homeowners grants or subsidized loans, and another $80 million in federal matching funds for states and localities to create mandatory mediation programs.

It would also provide $1 billion for the building, preservation and rehabilitation of affordable housing and authorize $5 million to develop a single data base to better monitor the mortgage markets.

Foreclosures jumped 16 percent during the second quarter of this year, accounting for 2.9 percent of all serviced mortgages, U.S. bank regulators reported on Wednesday.

"The number of foreclosures continues to rise at an alarming rate on pace to surpass last year's foreclosures by a third," said Senator Jack Reed, chief sponsor of the legislation offered on Wednesday.

"My bill provides targeted relief to qualified homeowners so that more families can keep their homes, protect communities from suffering even greater financial losses, and sets us on the path to stabilizing the housing sector as a foundation for lasting economic recovery," Reed said.

The other co-sponsors of the legislation in the Democratic-led Senate were Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley.

"It's long past time for the Senate to step up to keep families in their homes and to help lead the way toward economic recovery," Dubin said.
"This bill will help achieve those goals."

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.

Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosureof relevant interests.

[Chased around and around]

Take the anti stimulis pork bill and pay off all the bad mortgages in the US, done...

[Whites376]

Originally Posted by OH-WAMU

Not quite the mortgage bankruptcy cramdown they were talking before.

Democrats propose crackdown onhousing lenders

Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:20pm EDT
By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to crack down on lenders, curb record high U.S. foreclosure rates and stabilize the housing market was introduced on Wednesday by four U.S. Senate Democrats, including the chamber's assistant majority leader.

"Voluntary efforts to keep families in their homes have failed," said Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

"This bill will force lenders to modify qualified mortgages, create a homeowners assistance program and give states a bigger role in mediation efforts," Durbin said.

The Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009 would not only apply a sterner hand to lenders but also provide billions of dollars in federal relief to borrowers and oblige banks to evaluate qualified homeowners' loans and offer modifications.

It would authorize $6.3 billion in funding to states to offer homeowners grants or subsidized loans, and another $80 million in federal matching funds for states and localities to create mandatory mediation programs.

It would also provide $1 billion for the building, preservation and rehabilitation of affordable housing and authorize $5 million to develop a single data base to better monitor the mortgage markets.

Foreclosures jumped 16 percent during the second quarter of this year, accounting for 2.9 percent of all serviced mortgages, U.S. bank regulators reported on Wednesday.

"The number of foreclosures continues to rise at an alarming rate on pace to surpass last year's foreclosures by a third," said Senator Jack Reed, chief sponsor of the legislation offered on Wednesday.

"My bill provides targeted relief to qualified homeowners so that more families can keep their homes, protect communities from suffering even greater financial losses, and sets us on the path to stabilizing the housing sector as a foundation for lasting economic recovery," Reed said.

The other co-sponsors of the legislation in the Democratic-led Senate were Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley.

"It's long past time for the Senate to step up to keep families in their homes and to help lead the way toward economic recovery," Dubin said.
"This bill will help achieve those goals."

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.

Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosureof relevant interests.

Will this force Chase to foreclose on my property? I have been told by the lady in the loss mitigation department that they will not foreclose because LTV is too low......house is vacant.....maybe we will just rent it out and make some money! Also, after three years the county will take the property back for back taxes. We are not paying the property taxes since we stopped mortgage payments. Currently in CH 7