Policy & Legislation
HIGHLIGHT
During the years that led up to the subprime mortgage crisis, Congress was notably passive in dealing with the proliferation of abuses that flourished in a reckless lending environment. The foreclosure crisis that triggered today’s economic problems underscores the need for sensible regulations and protections. Today there are many reforms being weighed and balanced in Washington and in the states. Here we help you keep abreast of proposed policies and their pros and cons.
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- Calculated Risk: Assessing Non-Traditional Mortgage Products
September 20, 2006Calhoun urges federal regulators to require subprime lenders to evaluate borrower’s ability to repay before making a mortgage loan, and also by strengthening enforcement against unscrupulous lenders
- CRL Comment on OCC Working Paper #2006-1, "Foreclosures of Subprime Mortgages in Chicago"
September 15, 2006CRL disputes the findings of an OCC study of subprime mortgage foreclosures in Chicago
- Federally chartered banks can't create subsidiaries that are exempt from state laws
September 1, 2006CRL's amicus brief in support of Michigan Commissioner of Insurance and Financial Services Watters in Watters v. Wachovia Bank. CRL, along with a number of other consumer groups, argues that Michigan's mortgage broker licensing law applies to employees of a national bank's operating subsidiary notwithstanding the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's regulation treating a national bank's operating subsidiary as the same as the national bank itself for preemption purposes before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of Wachovia.
- Comment: Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act Hearings
August 15, 2006Public hearings on the home equity lending market and the adequacy of existing regulatory and legislative provisions in protecting the interests of consumers.
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: Newly Collected Data and What It Means
June 13, 2006Ernst proposes ways to strengthen the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)
- State attorneys general can punish federally chartered banks for violating state laws
April 5, 2006CRL's amicus briefs in support of the New York Attorney General in Cuomo v. The Clearing House Association, L.L.P. CRL, along with a number of consumer groups, argues that the National Bank Act's "visitorial powers" provision does not prohibit the New York Attorney General from enforcing the state's anti-discrimination law against national banks concerning their mortgage lending practices, and that the Office of the Comptroller of Currency's regulation treating this as prohibited is invalid. CRL participated in this case before the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Comment: Proposed Interagency Guidance on Nontraditional Mortgages
March 29, 2006This letter highlights concerns with nontraditional mortgages in the subprime market.
- Brief: Owners, Lenders Flourish Under State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws
March 1, 2006“The Best Value in the Subprime Market: State Predatory Lending Reforms” shows that state laws are working well for credit-strapped families in the subprime market and for responsible lenders.
- Predatory Mortgages in Maine: Recent Trends and the Persistence of Abusive Lending Practices in the Subprime Mortgage Market
February 13, 2006 - Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna
September 23, 2005CRL and other consumer groups filed a brief amici curiae in a Supreme Court case about mandatory arbitration.
