foreclosure crisis

Startling requirements in out-dated, but still used paperwork raises questions about how well Treasury is overseeing the centerpiece of Obama’s foreclosure crisis solution.

As voluntary mortgage modifications have failed to keep pace with foreclosures, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Wednesday that it might be time to bring back the stick of bankruptcy reform. That proposal, which would empower homeowners to escape foreclosure through bankruptcy, was passed in the House in March, but didn’t survive [...]

Since the White House effectively killed the foreclosure crisis measure in the Senate, some in the upper-chamber are not ready to give up.

Nearly three months after the Senate killed a House-passed proposal allowing homeowners to stave off foreclosure through bankruptcy, some upper-chamber Democrats are wondering if it isn’t time to revisit the issue.
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, not satisfied that mortgage lenders and servicers have done enough to prevent foreclosure voluntarily, have scheduled a cramdown hearing [...]

Once a central element to the administration’s plan to help underwater homeowners, cramdown is no longer part of the debate.

There’s more proof out today that the foreclosure crisis is only getting worse, despite everything that’s been thrown at it so far: Foreclosure notices reached a new record high during the first half of this year,  Bloomberg reports.
Citing data from RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure database, Bloomberg said the rising number of notices shows how job [...]

Lawmakers have a choice: let the foreclosure grind on for perhaps years, at the expense of millions of homeowners, or take the crisis head on.

Worth noting from yesterday’s House Judicial subcommittee hearing on the foreclosure crisis: Republicans just can’t shake the temptation to blame the Community Reinvestment Act for causing the current economic turmoil.
You’ve heard the critics’ argument before: The CRA hasn’t so much empowered low-income borrowers as it has lowered lending standards, thus forcing banks to make the [...]

Hoping to bring “cramdown” legislation back onto Congress’ radar, a House Judiciary subpanel met this afternoon to re-examine whether bankruptcy judges should be empowered to alter mortgage loans in order to prevent foreclosures.
Witnesses included the obligatory consumer advocates, a conservative think-tanker and a university professor. But the Treasury Department, although asked to send a representative [...]

The Grand Old Party is having a Grand Old Time blasting the Democrats for June’s uptick in unemployment.
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the newest figures are indication that Democratic leaders should have heeded Republicans earlier this year and dedicated much more of their $787 billion stimulus bill to tax cuts. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told [...]