Mortgage Protection Passes House
November 19, 2007
15 November 2007 may go down as the day the House finally passed legislation to help beleaguered homeowners. Thursday night, the House passed a bill that is aimed at protecting homeowner borrowers from questionable and abusive home loan policies. The bill will move to the Senate where it is expected to face tough opposition as lobbying by the mortgage industry and criticism from the White House is expected.
The bill passed by a 291-127 vote, which included support by 64 House Republicans. No Democrats opposed by bill during the vote.
While the bill passed the House, it did not go unchallenged. Republicans stated that the bill was an overreaction and warned that lawsuits would follow once the bill went into law. They also stated that banking and mortgage industry companies had already begun to cut back on their lending practices which heretofore had been lax and in some cases deceptive. These same practices are often considered to be one of the root causes of the current mortgage mess, leading many homeowners into foreclosure as adjustable rate mortgage reset rates begin to kick in.
Kiernan Quinn, the chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a statement: “Have no doubt, this bill will limit credit availability and options for thousands of Americans who want to grab their share of the American dream of homeownership.”
The Association also reported that it has many concerns with the bill, stating that it would significantly add more government regulations to banks.