Pass HR 3609-Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act
Pass HR 3609-Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act
Protect all homeowners by offering subprime victims a fair chance to avoid foreclosure.Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), a member of the House Financial Services Committee and Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Judiciary Subcommittee Chairwoman on Commercial and Administrative Law have introduced legislation that will prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from losing their homes by allowing them access to bankruptcy relief.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I am writing because I am deeply concerned about the epidemic of home foreclosures that is devastating families, neighborhoods and our entire economy. Representatives Miller and Sánchez have proposed lifting the arbitrary rule that now bars homeowners from even the possibility of saving their homes through loan changes approved by judges in a court of law. I strongly urge you to support the Miller-Sanchez bill (H.R. 3609, "Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act"). Court-supervised loan modifications would not excuse anyone from paying for their home, but would simply give judges the authority to alter unaffordable loans to make payments manageable. Allowing loan modifications through the courts would impose no cost on the U.S. Treasury, and it would strengthen the entire economy by helping hundreds of thousands of homeowners avoid foreclosure--foreclosures that hurt us all. This is a time to stand up against special interests and place the highest priority on promoting family stability and sustainable homeownership. Please help restore confidence in our economy by giving your full support to H.R. 3609.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
Dangerous lending practices and loose underwriting in the subprime mortgage market have put 2.2 million families in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.[1] These families are trapped in "exploding" adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that are due to increase to unaffordable interest rates. In fact, hundreds of thousands of families face rate increases at the same time that their houses are worth less than the balance on their mortgage.
Very few of these homeowners will be able to sell or refinance. Loan servicers who could modify loans to make them more affordable aren't doing so: A recent report by Moody's found that loan servicers had only modified one percent of mortgages that increased to higher rates in January, April and July of this year.[2] Unless Congress takes action, these families lose homeownership, surrounding neighborhoods lose property value, and the entire economy suffers.
We urgently need legislation that would allow lenders and loan servicers to modify mortgages to allow families to continue paying on their loans and keep their home. This would provide judges the authority to modify harmful mortgages marketed by subprime lenders in recent years, and would help more than 600,000 financially-troubled families keep their homes.
[1] Center for Responsible Lending, "Losing Ground: Foreclosures in the Subprime Market and Their Cost to Homeowners," December 2006, http://www.responsiblelending.org/pdfs/foreclosure-paper-report-2-17.pdf.
[2] Michael P. Drucker and William Fricke, "Moody's Subprime Mortgage Servicer Survey on Loan Modifications," Moody's Investors Service (September 21, 2007).
