Thirty-five ACORN members met yesterday with Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and Fed. Gov. Randall Kroszner at the agency's headquarters in Washington DC to discuss the possibility of regulating predatory lending to slow the rate of home foreclosures.
The Federal Reserve Board has the authority to address mortgage problems, but had not done so, while an estimated 2.2 million U.S. home loans are predicted to foreclose as a result of subprime lending during the past decade.
Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke agreed to meet with ACORN representatives after the community organization held more than a dozen protests June 6 in front of Federal Reserve offices.
ACORN members with Chairman Bernanke and Fed. Gov. Randall Kroszner
"They agreed to look into our concerns and agreed to set up further meetings," ACORN President Maude Hurd said following the meeting.
"We felt that progress was made, and we’re hopeful the federal government will institute measures that will help prevent hard-working families from losing their homes."
ACORN members recommended that the Federal Reserve use its authority under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) to issue regulations that will protect families from predatory lenders.
Specifically, ACORN called on the Feds to:
- Stop the abuse of stated-income loans
- Prohibit lenders from making adjustable rate loans that quickly become unaffordable when the rate increases
- Ban prepayment penalties on all subprime loans
- Require that subprime lenders include the taxes and insurance in the homeowner’s monthly payment.
Also on Wednesday, ACORN released a set of reports identifying neighborhoods nationwide with the highest rates of foreclosures.
ACORN, which has a long history of fighting for fair lending practices, recently kicked off a national campaign to address the foreclosure crisis. The group is conducting a large scale outreach program to find homeowners at risk of losing their homes due to predatory loans, and to organize these homeowners to fight back to save their homes.
ACORN has a 10-point program to stop home foreclosures and a toll-free number for at-risk homeowners can call for advice - 866-67-ACORN.