American Banker (05/29/08) P. 1; Kaper, Stacy
House lawmakers who helped pushed through a predatory lending bill in November are frustrated that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has done little to further similar legislation that he introduced in December. Dodd says he mulled the idea of including anti-predatory-lending provisions in a foreclosure-relief bill recently approved by his panel, but he notes that such a bill would have been difficult to pass and that subprime lending has dried up, anyway, as a result of the credit crunch. Meanwhile, observers point out that the Federal Reserve will focus on mortgage reforms in its revision of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act by mandating that lenders assess borrowers' repayment ability, limiting prepayment penalties and beefing up disclosures of yield-spread premiums and appraisals, among other changes; HUD and the Securities and Exchange Commission also are addressing the issue. Stephen O'Connor, the Mortgage Bankers Association's senior vice president of government affairs, says the marketplace will determine when Congress will revisit predatory lending legislation and what action lawmakers will take. He notes, "The original discussion was focused on who is to blame and how do we make sure this doesn't happen again. Then it evolved to what do we need to do to stabilize the market . . . and then it migrated on to what do we do to assist borrowers."
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