Common-Sense Solutions are Within Reach
Congress can reduce foreclosures now.
Current law is stacked against homeowners: Judges are not allowed to change the terms of distressed home loans—even though they are free to do so on distressed loans for vacation homes and boats. If Congress stands up for homeowners and allows court-supervised loan modifications on primary residences, we would prevent up to 600,000 foreclosures. Solution to Housing Crisis Requires Adjusting Loans to Fair Market Value through Court-Supervised Modifications.
Compromise bill would prevent 600,000 foreclosures (S. 2636).
Bipartisan HR 3609 would save 600,000 homes.
Summary of HR 3609 Bill (PDF).
Loan servicers are not modifying loans to keep borrowers in home (PDF).
Loan modifications do not hurt mortgage market (PDF).
See the written testimony of CRL’s Eric Stein before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law:
Congress can prevent reckless lending in the future.
Recently the House took bipartisan action to pass “The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007” (H.R. 3915), which includes long overdue protections to prevent predatory lending. But the battle isn’t over yet. The Center for Responsible Lending continues to have concerns about key weaknesses in H.R. 3915, and we join allies in urging the Senate to pass a stronger bill. We must ensure that any final bill:
The subprime crisis has not yet peaked: the worst is yet to come. We must urge the Senate to stand up for homeowners by passing a stronger law to eliminate subprime abuses in the future.
