Homebuyers Assistance Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to H.R. 3192, the Homebuyers Assistance Act.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act required the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to consolidate and streamline the disclosures that a lender is required to make to a homebuyer under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The CFPB has crafted a rule that will ultimately make it easier for borrowers to understand the terms of a mortgage and provide them with additional protections at each step of the process.

But mortgages are complicated instruments, and the procedures for home loans have been established for a long time. There is no question that the new rules are complex and will ultimately result in some unintended violations during implementation. The CFPB has extended the timeline for compliance once, and I agree that it is reasonable to extend that compliance period again, as this bill does, until February of 2016.

I also agree that lenders who inadvertently fail to comply because these rules are new and unfamiliar should not be subject to public enforcement actions during the implementation period. And indeed CFPB has given its assurance that it will grant very wide latitude to lenders during this period.

If that were all this bill did, I could support it. But in the bill is a troubling section that I cannot support even though I agree with the rest of its provisions. Unfortunately this bill suspends until next February the private right of action that allows aggrieved borrowers to recover damages when lenders violate the law in bad faith. This means that consumers who borrow during that period of time have absolutely no recourse whatsoever, even if the lender has engaged in blatant violations of the law. That isn't right, and it isn't fair for our constituents who are buying homes in the next four months to have to face that risk.

Although I agree that lenders acting in good faith who inadvertently violate the new rules should be given a reprieve over the next few months, I cannot endorse letting all violators off the hook for any action they take that harms borrowers. I hope we can continue to work to improve this bill, and I hope that we will soon consider a better version on the House floor to provide relief to lenders without also harming borrowers.

I encourage my colleagues to oppose the bill in its current form.

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