The Hamp Termination Act Of 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. MATSUI. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 839, the HAMP Termination Act, that calls on mortgage lenders to continue to publicly report basic home loan modification information.

Because of an amendment I offered to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which passed the house unanimously last Congress, mortgage lenders and services participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program are required to report basic loan modification information to the Department of the Treasury. Due to the enactment of my amendment, we now know that 2.5 million Americans have applied to participate in the Home Affordable Modification Program, and well over 600,000 of those applicants began permanent modifications.

In the Sacramento region, over 9,000 of the nearly 12,000 homeowners who have applied for permanent modifications have been approved, providing assistance to thousands of homeowners in my district. This information is crucial to accountability and transparency and for this Congress to measure the performance of the mortgage industry.

The amendment I offer today requires the same basic home loan modification reporting to continue, such as the number of applications they receive, the number of applications processed, or the number of modifications they approve or deny.

In its current form, H.R. 839 would eliminate HAMP, and, as a result, financial institutions who received HAMP taxpayer funds would no longer be obligated to continue reporting such basic information to the public.

Mr. Chairman, the foreclosure crisis was the root cause of the dire economic situation. It led to the near collapse of our financial system, increased unemployment, and caused the housing and credit crisis. Sadly, there are still millions of American homeowners facing foreclosure, and my home district of Sacramento, California, has been hit especially hard by this crisis.

During the last few years, I have been to foreclosure workshops in my district where I have met with constituents who are facing losing their home. I was recently contacted by Joan, a constituent of mine who would have lost her house without assistance from HAMP. Joan paid her bills on time and was current on her mortgage when her son was diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder that rendered him unable to work. When her adult son moved in with her shortly after, Joan was no longer able to provide for him and make her mortgage payments at the same time and sought assistance. With proper assistance, Joan received a low interest rate HAMP loan and now is able once again to make her mortgage payments on time.

Joan shared with me that her home was saved due to the HAMP program and that her son would have been homeless without it. She said, ``I have no words to express my feelings of gratitude for my loan modification.''

Mr. Chairman, I've heard a significant number of similar stories in Sacramento. It is essential that we require lenders to continue to report their loan modification activities. We need to know how many Joans are out there struggling but seeking assistance. We need to know whether lenders are doing all they can.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment will ensure a level of transparency and accountability continue. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense transparency amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. MATSUI. I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to say that these basic reporting requirements are not new. It's about HAMP. Every financial institution receiving HAMP funds from the TARP program is currently required to report this information today.

The current industry reporting requirements have played a significant role in providing a sense of transparency and accountability, and that's what we're talking about, transparency and accountability in our efforts to help homeowners and stabilize our housing market. Requiring basic information to be reported will provide this Congress with the information to make future decisions on loan modification programs as well as monitor the performance of the mortgage industry.

Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this important amendment to bring clarity and transparency to the mortgage industry.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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