Housing Financial Literacy Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1395) to require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to discount FHA single-family mortgage insurance premium payments for first-time homebuyers who complete a financial literacy housing counseling program.
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Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 1395, the Housing Financial Literacy Act, a bipartisan bill authored by Representative Beatty who is the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion. The bill is also cosponsored by Representative Stivers.
This bill would incentivize prospective home buyers to undergo housing counseling by offering a discount on FHA-backed mortgages for doing so. Research has consistently demonstrated that loans made to borrowers who have received pre-purchase counseling perform better than loans made to comparable borrowers who did not receive pre-purchase counseling on their mortgage.
When borrowers are able to stay current on their mortgage payments, lenders save money too. A 2013 study by Freddie Mac found that when 90- day delinquencies were lowered by 29 percent, lenders saved an average of $1,000 per loan. So this bill would not only benefit consumers during an environment of historically low mortgage rates, it would also help further improve the financial health of the FHA.
Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Beatty for her leadership on this commonsense, data-driven bill. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R.
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Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for pushing this bill forward.
This bill incentivizes financial literacy that will help avoid delinquencies and lower the upfront cost of homeownership for so many.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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