Barbara Lee Supports Mortgage Reform, Anti-Predatory Lending Legislation
For Immediate Release
May 8, 2009
Contact: Nicole Y. Williams
(202) 225-2661
Washington, D.C. – This week, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) joined a majority of her colleagues in voting for the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. The comprehensive mortgage reform and anti-predatory lending legislation seeks to end the predatory and irresponsible mortgage loan practices that played a major role in the current financial and economic meltdown and prevent borrowers from deliberately misstating their income to qualify for a loan. She released this statement:
“I served for 8 years on the House Financial Services Committee with my colleagues and we repeatedly warned the then majority Republicans, the Bush Administration, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve about the need for stronger oversight and critical reforms that would end the pattern and practice of predatory lending – but our warnings fell on deaf ears.
“They chose to allow kickback schemes like yield spread premiums which put the mortgage lender’s financial incentives in direct conflict with the interests of the consumers they are supposed to serve. They allowed lenders to prey on low-income, senior and minority borrowers locking them into sub-prime and Alt-A loans for which they were not qualified. Most devastating was their decision to blindly trust financial institutions to ‘regulate themselves’ -and we see where that got us.
“It is long past time that we bring sound, reasonable regulation and oversight to our mortgage markets. This bill will do that by ending irresponsible lending practices and will put protections in place for those who need it most – the American consumer, including renters and tenants who have been silently suffering due to the wave of foreclosures.
“This bill along with other key pieces of legislation including the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights and the TARP anti-fraud legislation will help to restore accountability in the housing a financial markets and help us rebuild our economy.”
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