Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is pushing for a 90 day ban on foreclosures and a 5 year “freeze” on adjsutable rate mortgages. Clinton sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling for needed steps to end the foreclosure crisis.
December 3, 2007
The Honorable Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Secretary
United States Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am encouraged by news accounts that Treasury officials are negotiating an agreement with the mortgage industry to curb the foreclosure crisis. Reports of this agreement indicate that it will allow homeowners to apply to quickly refinance their mortgages or temporarily stop their adjustable rate mortgages from resetting at higher levels.
It is critical that we address this crisis. The Administration and the mortgage industry must reach an agreement that matches the scale of the problem. If you produce an inadequate agreement, or fail outright, the cost to our economy will be incalculable. A satisfactory agreement must do at least the following: impose a moratorium on foreclosures, freeze mortgage rates before they escalate, and require that the mortgage industry report its progress on loan modifications:
Read more of Clinton’s letter here. Below are some more details of her proposal to Paulosn.
- Impose a foreclosure moratorium of at least 90 days on subprime, owner-occupied homes. The moratorium will stop foreclosures until lenders and servicers have an opportunity to implement the freeze in mortgage rates. Servicers have complained that they do not have the systems in place to quickly contact the large numbers of at-risk borrowers. Servicers can certainly expect that during the moratorium at-risk borrowers will contact them. The moratorium will also give state and city organizations as well as community groups the necessary time to provide financial counseling to at-risk homeowners. The moratorium only applies to owner-occupied houses, and therefore excludes real estate speculators.
- Freeze the monthly rate on subprime adjustable rate mortgages, with the freeze lasting at least 5 years or until the mortgages have been converted into affordable, fixed-rate loans. After the moratorium, there should be a long freeze in rates on adjustable rate mortgages. The overwhelming majority of subprime mortgages have adjustable rates. The long rate-freeze will give the housing market time to stabilize. It will give families an opportunity to rebuild equity in their homes. It also gives the mortgage industry time, and incentive, to convert mortgages that were designed to fail into loans that are actually affordable. The rate freeze and loan modification must be extended not only to borrowers who are current but to some who have fallen behind. After all, it is indisputable that brokers and mortgage companies lured families into mortgages which were designed to end in foreclosure. This was only possible because regulators were asleep at the switch. A rate freeze is critical. An average of $30 billion in loans will reset monthly next year. One study indicates that the average reset increases monthly payments by 40%. It is no surprise that rate resets are the major driver of the foreclosure crisis. The rate freeze and loan modification would only apply to owner-occupied houses.
- Require the mortgage industry to provide status reports on the number of mortgages it has modified. Resolution of the foreclosure crisis will require that large numbers of unworkable mortgages be converted to more stable loans. To date, however, despite pressure from Congress and the press, lenders and servicers have modified only about 1% of subprime mortgages. This obviously has to change. We cannot take the industry at its words that it will follow through on an agreement to convert loans expeditiously. Accordingly, the agreement must impose on lenders and servicers an obligation to regularly report their modifications.
1 response so far ↓
1 JFH // Dec 11, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Mrs Clinton I have a ton of respect for both you and your Husband. To me he was a great president but what do I know, in my opinion no matter what you do put a freeze or not its not going to stop the foreclosures, its not the adjustable rate mortgages that is causing the problem this is just an excuse something to blame it on, the real probem is the econ. high gas prices, which in turn increases every thing else. when people took out these adjustable rate MTGs they knew they would go up, what they didnt know was there dollar would shrink. adj rate mtgs were designed as a short term fix for people that the credit wasnt so good it was designed as a rebuilding period, for there credit. and then refi to a better rate. There is so much that could be said aobut all this but I would be here for hours typing the whys and why not , there is an old saying the pendulum swings and it is swinging the other way right now, and when it stops and reachese its highest poing it will swing the other way. the other saying is one mans junk is another mans fortune we will have a lot of junk loans but it is still secured by something when the maket turns ( pendulum swings ) and it will he who has stayed invested will be a rich man, as for the home owners and I hate to say this but its true, it will be a learning experience for them hopefuly it wont happen again, yes they will lose there homes and yes they will rent, but in that time they will rebuild there credit and start over. We are americans, the sad part about it is, as americans we have short memories and I equate this to the day after 911 you could go down any street and see a flag flying, go down those same streets and your lucky if you see one flying why because we forget, we have it in the back of our minds. thats what keeps Americans going to forge foward we cant and dont dwell on the bad things we adapt and move foward, 30 years is a long time to have a mortgage you cant tell me that in 30 years a home owner wont have an oops maeaning lose a Job, have a med problem, things change daily and we will have oopses. the thing to do is have the mortgage companies leave room for this unfortunate event, because if you think people are saving for a rainy day thats funny. they at this point can barley put gas in the car to get to work, fuel is a big factor in our economy it drives the prices of every thing else every thing we consume has to be transported some how. when it cost more to transport its cost more for the consumers. leaving the consumer less money to live. I could go on and on and I am sure every one has an idea of what can or should be done, but if you want real answers as to what to do ask the broker, they know why the borrowers can afford the mortgages. let them be the ones to help not the ones to blame. its sad but the only one to blame is the borrower them selves and I know this will piss many off but its true, when a buyer goes to a table for a loan he is usualy with an attorney the attorney knows how to read documents he will or should tell the borrower what the rate is what the payment will be and its not even about the rate. its about, can I afford the payment when they sit down to take out this loan. adjustable rate mortgages stay fixed for a min of two years in that time people are hoping they make more money get raises ect. but it wont matter because our economy is spiraling out of control, people cant keep up. ask the people that took out an adjustable rat loan, ask them if they knew it was an adjustable I bet you 9 out of 10 say they knew and the one that says they didnt is the one reading the paper saying here is my out lets go with what the media is saying and see if I can get out of this. like I said I could go on and on but the truth is its not aobut the Adjustable rate mtg that did it in for the mortgage/realestate owners. its every thing around it we just need something to blame. and with out money being lent to float the econ. there is going to be a major melt down today the investors will suffer but holding on to it instead of a panic they will come out all right think of it as a long term investment work with the home owners reduce there peyments for now till things get better. or you can be the investor to take the house foreclose and resell its your choice, the hard part is going to be who deserves the break and who dosent, which home owner is a dead beat and which truley fell of hard times. only one way to find out ask the brokers. when you go to battle how do you know how bad it is unless you ask the people that ar on the front lines. you cant ask some one that might know you have to go to the source. yes there are bad brokers out there just like in any thing. Goverment ect., but not every one is the same find the long time broker or lender they just might shed some answers.
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