Jim Carr explains a new report showing that nearly one out of every three homes sold in the first three months of the year were foreclosures. Also, click here to access our latest study focusing on the Washington DC area foreclosures. Quicklinks to additional foreclosure resources:
Jim Carr on MSNBC’s “Ed Show” – June 30, 2010 Read More »
Washington, DC – Reacting to news that the House has passed the Wall Street reform bill this evening, John Taylor, president & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), made this statement regarding its passage:
“NCRC is very pleased to see some major steps taken to overhaul the banking system. The bill offers necessary consumer protections that would not have been passed without President Obama’s leadership. The Senate needs to act quickly to send this legislation to the President’s desk. While it’s been distressing to see the outsize influence that the Wall Street banks have on Congress, it’s time now to get this done, and to move forward with other necessary measures to clean up the mess caused by the reckless and irresponsible behavior of Wall Street.”
“The creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) as an independent agency that will be able to create and enforce rules of the road will protect consumers from future abuses. It is critical however that this independence not be undermined by the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank will house, pay for and be part of the oversight agency that has the authority to veto decisions of the CFPB. Only time will tell as to how much influence the banking regulators and others have over this new important agency. We will be paying close attention to the implementation of the agency, to ensure it is set up in a way that maximizes its ability to protect consumers.”
Wall Street Reform Passes the House Read More »
Washington, DC- Early this morning, the Conference Committee passed the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill. John Taylor, NCRC’s president and CEO, made this statement regarding its passing:
“NCRC is very pleased to see some major steps being taken to overhaul the banking system. The bill offers major consumer protections that did not exist prior to President Obama’s and Barney Frank’s call for reform. The creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a independent agency should be able to create rules and regulations and protect consumers from future abuses. It is critical however that this independence not be undermined by the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank will house, pay for and be part of the oversight agency that has the authority to veto decisions of the CFPB. Only time will tell as to how much influence the banking regulators and others have over this new important agency.”
Major components of the bill include:
Consumer Agency:
Help for Homeowners:
Financial Regulatory Reform Passed by Conference Committee Read More »
CONFERENCE WATCH:
NCRC Urges Committee Withstand Pressure to Remove Independent Appraisals, Sounds Concern on Rating Agencies’ Conflict of Interest But Praises Senate Vote on Homeowner Advocate in HAMP Program
Washington, DC (June 16, 2010) — Today John Taylor, CEO and President of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, urged the conference committee to withstand pressure to remove independent appraisal requirements on mortgages in the financial reform bill and expressed disappointment with its failure to resolve the troubling conflict of interest between credit rating agencies and Wall Street. Taylor also urged inclusion of an Office of the Homeowner Advocate in HAMP to conduct loan modification appeals brought by homeowners and serve as a policy voice for homeowners.
Taylor said: “Financial reform cannot happen with removing the existing monetary incentives we have allowed the financial industry to build into financial products, including mortgages and the services rating agencies provide. We took a step backward yesterday by refusing to deal with the rating agencies’ conflict of interest. We cannot afford to take another step backwards by caving to pressure from the brokers and Realtors to remove independent appraisals on mortgages. Inflated valuations on homes helped blow the housing bubble bigger and bigger until it burst. To prevent another crisis, we need to remove the financial incentives to do more harm than good.”
Financial Reform Cannot Happen Without Removing Monetary Incentives Read More »
Senate bill weaker on consumer protections than House bill will need to get strengthened in conference committee
Washington, DC– Today, the United States Senate passed a financial reform bill . A last minute managers amendment from Senator Dodd has not been made public yet, but based on the details of the bill known earlier today, John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), made the following statement:
The Senate has today passed a promising financial reform bill: necessary financial reforms will become law. But this legislative victory came at a great cost. More than 8 million Americans lost their livelihood, and millions are losing their homes. Families and whole neighborhoods have been torn apart. Unfortunately, this is more than lost decade for many Americans; this has been the destruction of the American Dream.
Wall Street Reform Passes Senate Read More »
Voluntary nature, rising unemployment and underwater homeowners impede progress of foreclosure prevention program
Washington, DC -Today, the Treasury Department released figures for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) through April of this year. The numbers show that roughly 300,000 borrowers have received a permanent modification under the program. Meanwhile, foreclosure filings continue at a rate above 300,000 for the 14th straight month, according to Realty Trac .
"The latest HAMP numbers continue to be underwhelming. While it’s clear that some progress has made, it’s been incremental at best. The program is positioned to help a very modest percentage of borrowers weather the storm, but not to end the foreclosure crisis. At these levels of prevention, the foreclosures will continue to gnaw away at the economy," said John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC).
Foreclosure Prevention Gains Little Ground Read More »
Wall Street Pulling Out All the Stops to Maintain Veil of Secrecy and Avoid Accountability Brought by Financial Reform Bill
Senate bill needs to get stronger to protect consumers
Washington, DC — As the Wall Street reform debate opens in the Senate, the financial services lobby is pulling out all the stops to weaken or even kill the financial reform bill. On a mission to fight off oversight and accountability, Wall Street banks have already poured in millions of dollars, deployed over a thousand lobbyists, including former members of congress, all in efforts to fight off the bill and guard their lofty profits. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition urged the Senate today to fight on behalf of the American people for strong reform that ensures that the financial system is fair, transparent, and accountable.
Wall Street Pulling Out All the Stops to Maintain Veil of Secrecy Read More »
Click here to download a PDF of the Full Study Click here to download PDF of Executive Summary
Study of DC area loans reveals racial component to lending and foreclosure unexplained by objective underwriting criteria.
Washington, DC – As financial reform works its way through the Senate, a new study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) indicates that subprime lending and subsequent resulting foreclosures were led by the private market and contained a clear racial component not explained by objective underwriting criteria. African American and Latino borrowers were more likely to receive a subprime loan, and to go into foreclosure, than similarly situated white homeowners, controlling for credit risk and other borrower, neighborhood and loan characteristics. The Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) appeared to have a moderating effect on risky and abusive lending practices; privately securitized loans went into foreclosure twice as often as loans backed by the GSEs.
Study Shows Wall Street Pipeline Encouraged Risky, Abusive Loans Read More »
The current foreclosure and economic crisis was caused in significant part by unregulated and risky lending. The federal government has obligated $23 trillion in rescuing the financial industry. Two major rationales motivated Congress to enact CRA in 1977. First, Congress believed that all creditworthy borrowers needed to have access to financial services regardless of their income class. It was true in 1977 and still true today that few working class, blue collar citizens can pursue their American Dream or build businesses without fair access to the financial system. Second, banks must have an obligation to serve their communities in return for FDIC deposit insurance and the full faith and backing of the American taxpayer. Today, both rationales must be applied to the entire industry since government financial and institutional support rescued the financial industry from its recklessness. In addition, a broad application of CRA can safeguard the financial industry and return it to profitability by requiring safe and sound lending and investments in neighborhoods.
John Taylor testifies on CRA before House Financial Services Committee Read More »
Washington, DC — In reaction to the news that Bank of America would launch a principal reduction program, John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, today made this statement: “Bank of America is to be commended for launching a program to reduce principal balances on loans that are underwater. Principal reduction
NCRC Commends Bank of America on Launching Principal Reduction Program Read More »
Washington, DC – Today the Obama Administration will announce changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and to FHA. John Taylor, president & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition made the following statement:
“The Administration has once again shown their willingness to go back to the drawing board to address programmatic challenges. The enhancements announced today will be helpful to unemployed borrowers and some homeowners who find themselves underwater.”
“But I’m not optimistic that the incentives will be enough to entice servicers and investors to reduce loan principals. Will they help seven million people who are at risk of foreclosure? I will be pleasantly shocked if investors step up for half a million borrowers. The real acceleration in the number of foreclosures prevented will come with mandatory principal writedowns.”
Obama Administration Announces Changes to Foreclosure Prevention Programs Read More »
Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition released a report addressing the concerns surrounding foreclosure prevention rescue scams. The research study was conducted for a period of three months in mid-2009 using “fair lending matched pair testing” or mystery shopping” to assess the extent of the problem. Findings of the study demonstrate that an aggressive legislative
“Given the massive bailouts that Wall Street and the nation’s banks received from taxpayers to correct for predatory and reckless lending, Congress should mandate that the financial services industry give back to neighborhoods and communities they harmed by modernizing and expanding the Community Reinvestment Act,” said John Taylor, president & CEO of NCRC, in testimony on Thursday, April 15th, 2010.