Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PITTENGER. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my good friend from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) for his leadership on this important bill for consumers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1210, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act. Since the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it seems that all they have done is make it more difficult for businesses to grow and create jobs and to restrict choices for consumers. America needs an opportunity economy not hampered with massive bureaucratic regulations.

The CFPB's qualified mortgage rule is anti-opportunity. It does nothing but force overly burdensome underwriting requirements on hardworking American families and community financial institutions, making it harder for creditworthy individuals to buy a home they can afford to keep.

The Independent Community Bankers Association reports that 73 percent of community bankers have decreased their mortgage business or completely stopped providing mortgage loans due to the expense of complying with this regulatory burden.

Mr. Speaker, I sat on a community bank board for over 10 years. We knew who was creditworthy. We had personal relationships with our customers. We knew their character. Today, Mr. Speaker, it is one size fits all.

We understand the nature of loans and extending credit. Yet what is required today is a box to check. If you can't check all the boxes, you won't get a loan. The regulators today, just like they did before the crisis, are putting mandates on community financial institutions, whom you can loan money to and whom you can't loan money to. This type of excessive regulation is what is killing the opportunities and choices for the American consumers.

Since I have been in Congress, I regularly hear how Washington's red tape prevents community financial institutions from serving their customers' needs. H.R. 1210 goes a long way to ensure community banks and credit unions, who know their customers and communities, are able to serve hardworking American families, and they should not be impeded by needless and misguided meddling of Washington bureaucrats.

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