CRL President Michael Calhoun testifies before a House Financial Services subcommittee on the benefits of strong lending protections. Financial reform, including the CFPB, is good for American families as well as bank safety and soundness.
Home ownership has been the primary means for most American families to build and pass on inter-generational wealth. However, government-sanctioned racial discrimination in housing and mortgage finance markets robbed many families of this opportunity, and today’s racial homeownership gap is barely changed from the levels of more than 50 years ago. Closing the homeownership gap is essential to closing the racial wealth gap. Additionally, predatory mortgage lending practices drained trillions in wealth from families, especially Black, Latino, low wealth and low-income Americans. CRL successfully advocated for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which has made the mortgage market far safer for consumers. CRL is building on this progress by working to ensure that all credit-worthy borrowers have access to fair, affordable, and sustainable mortgages. And that policy makers and market participants develop solutions that are appropriate to respond to the scale of this housing crisis.
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California foreclosure statistics show record losses in recent years are likely to continue into the future On average, more than 500 California families have lost their homes every day since 4Q 2007, and the data show few signs of a return to the pre-crisis housing market. California foreclosure activity remains elevated, with more than 30,000 completed foreclosures each quarter, compared...
Interest rates are at historic lows, but many homeowners who could benefit from these low rates have not refinanced their higher-rate mortgage. In this testimony, CRL President Michael Calhoun recommends expanding the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to prevent unnecessary foreclosures and boost economic recovery.
Attorney General Kamala Harris is sponsoring a package of bills (the Homeowner Bill of Rights) designed to mitigate the foreclosure crisis and provide Californians with greater protections in the foreclosure process.
Forty-nine state attorneys generals and two government agencies have reached a $25 billion agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. Here we provide a quick-reference summary of the terms of this agreement. Background and additional resources
"Rampant, Pervasive Fraud" Maryland's AG, Doug Gansler, gives a quick overview of the national mortgage settlement, noting that "this is just a down payment by the national banks," not the end of the story. As foreclosures mounted in recent years, the mortgage servicing industry often responded with illegal shortcuts, illegal fees and incompetent management. The situation became so bad that...
As federal regulators consider setting down-payment standards on new mortgages, this research shows such rules could push 60% of creditworthy borrowers into high-cost loans or out of the market altogether. A proposal by regulators to define a high-quality mortgage as one with at least a 10% or 20% down payment would hobble a healthy segment of the housing market. While...
FHFA has the mandate and the opportunity to improve mortgage servicing practices. CRL recommends incentives to encourage better service by loan servicers and to promote more timely and effective loss mitigation, free of abusive and unfair practices.
Five years into the foreclosure crisis, borrowers across the country are still struggling with their mortgage payments, and are seeking out the help of housing counselors to help them manage their finances and guide them through the loan modification process. Between 2008 and 2011, the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program assisted nearly 1.2 million homeowners with foreclosure counseling, and provided...
On November 17, 2011, Center for Responsible Lending published new research that shows that the nation is not even halfway through the foreclosure crisis. Lost Ground, 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosures finds that: (1) foreclosure rates are closely tied to harmful loan terms, and (2) the majority of foreclosures have been experienced by white households, though African-American and...