Against the Predators (0.00 / 0)

It's tough to write my rep about this as he is enjoying a Club for Growth subsidy.

---

by: steelhead @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 10:31:34 AM CST

Is this the provision? (0.00 / 0)

Are we talking about §123 of the bill as reported by Financial Services - dealing with anti-steering?

What are Franks' and the leadership's plans for moving HR 3915 to the floor?

How would they find floor time for it, given the legislative logjam? Surely there's no way it could pass the Senate as a standalone bill (perhaps not even the House)? Isn't the best chance slipping it into an apps bill at the end of the session?

In which case, §123 might be worth jettisoning if it secured the enactment of the rest of HR 3915.

---

by: skeptic06 @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 11:08:00 AM CST

It's this week, apparently (0.00 / 0)

That's what this says, at least.

Of course, with a closed rule, a couple of hours debate, bish bash bosh and Bob's your uncle - one way or the other.

(Rules is down to meet tomorrow at 1400 to agree a special rule for the bill.)

---

by: skeptic06 @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 11:14:56 AM CST

[ Parent ]

supported legislation list (0.00 / 0)

There are a lot of bills that need support, promotion, such as this most worthy cause.

I mean why do we have a loan system that punishes the poor with absurdly high interest rates generally?  That's the situation overall, if you are poor, you are guaranteed to pay more than the rich guy in interest rates.  "Poor credit" can also mean income available, FICO isn't just missed payments, the more obvious symptoms that someone might not repay the debt.

But, the thing is, the real cause, the actual bills and enforcement thereof, policy gets drowned in a sea of blog noise.  So, beyond story postings promoting a particular bill it would be nice if there could be an entire site/webpage devoted to bills that need support.

The most expensive thing to set up in an automated fax as an action item.  I'm not aware of any way to do that one with just your programming ability because connecting to the land lines (telephone) costs.

NoSlaves.com  


The Economic Populist

---

by: Robert Oak @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 11:33:21 AM CST

A job and a half (0.00 / 0)

From my modest experience of dealing with legislative process, it's beyond the resources (of all kinds) of bloggers to supply the necessary infrastructure to allow those online to interact with the system in more than the more superficial way.

There are tens of thousands of guys all over the country contributing in one way or another to legislation, with specialist subject knowledge and facilities and bags of moolah, whose business is to get a legislative result, or monitor what's going on.

Even just looking at the subjects that attract lefty spheroids' attention, the volume of information to digest is huge.

What we need is for lefty moneybags to pay for a site with properly paid full-time guys who can build a system which processes and makes readily useable not only the basic information from THOMAS, but also links in information from interest groups, the CRS, the Federal government and whatever, which allows the user to understand what's at stake in the legislative text he's puzzling over.

I can't it see happening: apart from the notorious tight-fistedness of lefty moneybags, the insiders threatened by all this openness would, I suspect, throw spanners into the works (like with the availability of CRS reports) and make sure it didn't happen.

---

by: skeptic06 @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 12:00:40 PM CST

[ Parent ]

it would take (0.00 / 0)

sourceforge.net, an LGPL, etc. license, open source activity to create something to manage it.  I agree, it's a "wish list" but at the same time, the proof in the pudding is the law, the bills and getting them passed.  I mean there are so many things getting brought to the floor that the American public just plain doesn't want, in the majority.  I'm thinking of the Peru trade deal while so many Dems won '06 over an economic fairness, fair trade position.  Just one example. 

But, it would have to be the techies, not the bloggers to create such a site to be sure.  The only thing I can think of that can take on such money and power is open source, aka linux to Micro$oft. 

I think you're dead on, the bills that are for the majority of Americans do not pay, being in the national interest, while surely making profits long term, will not make profits in the short term for these moneybag organizations, left or right.

NoSlaves.com  


The Economic Populist

---

by: Robert Oak @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 13:16:08 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Wrote my rep - Congressman Adam Schiff (0.00 / 0)

I wrote him.  Thanks for posting this entry.  I think our frustration should rightly be placed with the American people.

In this post:

http://nomoremister....

This is key passage:

When he asks groups of Democrats if they think the American people are stupid because they elected George W. Bush twice, most respond that, yes, they do, he said. He said he thinks that attitude is a real problem for the Democrats, who fail to understand how smart and pragmatic the American people really are.

I do think the American people have shown their ignorance and stupidity in allowing us to go to war.  In allowing us to see 47 million Americans without healthcare.  In allowing the disparity between the rich and the rest of us widen dramatically.  In allowing scientific facts like global warming and evolution to become debatable. 

We don't have a communal sense of guilt because we are supposedly a nation of individuals.  My neighbor's problem is not mine.  Where is the sense of civic duty?  Where is the sense of civic responsibility?  All I see is apathy.

That is stupid and that is why politicians like Biden (who did much to help pass that awful bankruptcy bill several years ago) will never stand up against corporate abuse like what the mortgage industry continues to perpetrate on the American people. 

We only have ourselves to blame.

---

by: pbriggsiam @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 12:15:52 PM CST

Issues with this bill (0.00 / 0)

There are some big time problems with this bill; specifically that it preempts much better legislation that has been enacted in states (rather than just setting a floor).

I will try to get my old man to write about the big fight he got in Barney Frank last weekend at the National Consumer Law Center Conference.

Anyway, again, punchline is that we need to go after predatory lending.  But we shouldn't undercut all the hard work that has been done on a statewide basis.

YSP's and brokers are def a problem, but only a small piece of the overall disaster that is shoving money into people's hands when you know they cannot afford to pay it back.

---

by: Dan U-A @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 13:10:52 PM CST

oops (4.00 / 1)

I left the link missing for 'my old man'.

---

by: Dan U-A @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 13:13:27 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Predators (0.00 / 0)

I'm contacting my congressman in opposition to the provision eliminating yield spread premiums.  As a mortgage broker, I am able to provide my borrowers with a choice between a lower rate or lower closing costs, because of the YSP.

Also, as a mortgage BROKER, I am not allowed to hide what I make on a loan - BY FEDERAL LAW, I am compelled to reveal to my borrowers what I expect to make on their loan at application; and at the Closing statement shows what I did make on the loan.  ONLY MORTGAGE BROKERS HAVE TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION TO THEIR CLIENTS.  Mortgage Bankers (correspondents who fund their own loans, and then sell them to a mortgage company) do not have to do this, nor do banks who sell their loans on the market. 

As a mortgage Broker, I can (an do) offer my borrowers the best loan program available for their situation. 

I think it would be a good idea if those who are advocating all these remedies would actually take the time to really identify the problem, first.

---

by: judyinnm @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 17:35:13 PM CST

not so fast (0.00 / 0)

Ummm,..... actually you should probably know what yield spread premium is before you call you representatives  The yield spread premium obtained from the lenders allows the broker to reduce the upfront costs to the borrower if they do not have the ability or desire to pay the costs. Oftentimes the borrower does not want or cannot bring money to the closing table to pay for these costs. Additionally, in today's market they may not have the equity in the property to allow these costs to be added to the loan. I am a mortgage broker and at the time of application I present my borrowers with three options:

Example refinance of a $200,000 Closing costs of $3,000
1) Borrower can pay 1% loan origination fee and the closing costs rolled into loan
The rate would be 6%
loan amount $200,000
Principal and Interest payment $1199.00

2) Borrower can pay the closing costs and 0% loan origination
The rate would be 6.25%
Loan Amount $197,000
Principal and Interest payment of $1212.00

3) I pay closing cost out of YSP and 0% origination
The rate would be 6.5%
Loan amount $195,000
Principal and Interest payment of $1232.00

The borrower than has a choice. Compare scenario 1 and 3.
The lower payment of $1199.00 costs the borrower $5000 which they may or may not have. The difference in the payments from the 6.0% loan & the 6.5% loan is $33.00 per month. It will take to borrower 151 months or 12 years to recoup the $5000.00. If they do not plan to have the mortgage or the property for that long the better option for them is the 6.5%.
If they currently have a mortgage they cannot afford at 8.5% and the inability to pay the origination and closing cost, they still have the ability to save a substantial amount on their payment if they refinance to 6.5%. Without YSP, they would not be able to obtain any loan at all
  I understand from your comments that the assumption is that all YSP goes to the Broker all of the time. This is simply not true. These are not just hypothetical situations. A large portion of my borrowers are lower income level and most of them have used this to their benefit
  Mortgage Brokers are simply wholesalers and obtain Mortgages at wholesale rates. The rate I can offer my borrower even with yield spread premium is lower than the rate they can obtain at a retail bank. If the mortgage broker does not charge you any origination fee, they can still get paid from the yield spread premium at a rate that beats a retail bank.
  Restricting the ability to provide this will severely reduce the number of borrowers able to refinance or purchase a home. This will only exacerbate the current problems. Yield Spread Premiums have allowed many of my clients to purchase their first home and begin building some sort of financial future. In the widening income inequality of our country, this is usually the only way they have to begin this process.

---

by: paul22 @ Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 18:29:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]