Today Congressman Frank seriously caved in on several issues that make what was a potentially good anti-predatory lending bill (HR 3915) too weak to make much difference in the fight against predatory lending. The House will begin working on this bill tomorrow so we need all members of Congress to get an urgent call or fax asking them to vote against the entire bill unless some specific measures are restored or added. The areas of concern include Yield Spread amendments, anti-steering provisions, lack of full accountability for Wall Street, too broad a preemption of state law and weakening of the provisions that protect tenants. Your call tonight or early tomorrow morning could make the difference as consumer groups are trying to fight back against the enormous pressure being brought to bear by the predatory lending industry.
Danielua (who I don’t know) has diaried this below, but this is so important that I’m following up. Details over the jump.
Today Chairman Barney Frank and Ranking Member Bachus released a “managers amendment” which will be brought forward as HR 3915 begins consideration tomorrow.
Specifically what was a strong prohibition against yield spread premiums has been weakened to simple disclosure. Yield Spread Premiums are the payments to brokers that depend on the borrowers being put into a higher interest rate loan.
The anti-steering part of the bill has been weakened. What was a pretty straightforward prohibition to steering borrowers eligible for prime loans into subprime loans has been weakened, leaving the final language up to the banking regulators; entities which have not been particularly strong about protecting consumers as of late.
Lack of full accountabilityfor Wall Street. The technical term for this problem is “assignee liability.” Unless the securitizers and the actual holders of the mortgage have some liability for people who get put into bad loans, Wall Street will continue to find ways to make money available for bad loans. This has to stop.
Some states have begun enacting laws which provide stronger protections for consumers and which hold Wall Street accountable. These laws should only be preempted if there is a stronger national standard.
Under this bill, tenants caught in a property which is being foreclosed on can be forced to move within 90 days even if they have a lease.
You can make a difference. Here’s how Using the Democracy in Action web sitehosted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition http://www.ncrc.org/ you can support the good guys in 60 seconds or less.