Blog - Tackling Home Foreclosures

Statement

Blog - Tackling Home Foreclosures

By Paul Gillmor

America currently enjoys the highest homeownership rate in our nation's history. Unfortunately, too many people, and far too many Ohioans, have been offered mortgages that were wrong for them. Homeownership should remain the American dream, not a nightmare. For far too long, Ohio has been subjected to crooked lenders, loose underwriting standards, and high foreclosure rates.

Congressman Gillmor listens with his colleagues during his Congressional summit on Ohio's home foreclosure turmoil during is Congressional summit in Washington, D.C.In the past month, there have been two important developments as I have worked to find a solution to the turmoil in Ohio's housing market. First, I gathered most of our Congressional delegation with housing advocates and representatives of the mortgage industry on Capitol Hill to discuss the turmoil in the Ohio housing market. While Congress has held ten formal hearings on the foreclosure crisis, this was the first Ohio specific gathering where we could openly and frankly discuss this topic in a way in which it deserves.

A second development came last week when I joined in introducing the first significant overhaul of our lending laws in the 110th Congress. Ohioans have rightfully demanded their representatives take action to stem the wave of foreclosures and our bill answers their call.

The Fair Mortgage Practices Act, H.R. 3012, includes the following new or enhanced consumer protections:

* Creates a national licensing and registration standard for mortgage lenders including criminal background checks, credit checks, fingerprint reviews and complete 20 hours of training in practices including ethics and federal lending law;
* Simplifies the disclosures for borrowers into a one-page document for the borrowers;
* Requires subprime mortgage lenders to set aside payments for property taxes and homeowners' insurance;
* Requires lenders to give borrowers of subprime mortgages a list of approved credit counselors;
* Strengthen enforcement actions against fraud schemes and improve the integrity of appraisals;
* Requires lenders to weigh a borrower's ability to repay a loan before extending credit.

It is very important to note that this bill includes a more than doubling of the federal budget for housing counseling to low and moderate income borrowers for the next four years. This bill provides the protection that American homeowners deserve and I hope the Democrat leadership moves quickly to bring this bill up for a vote on the House floor.

Source