[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 70 (Thursday, May 7, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1086-E1087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MORTGAGE REFORM AND ANTI-PREDATORY LENDING ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 6, 2009

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1728) to 
     amend the Truth in Lending Act to reform consumer mortgage 
     practices and provide accountability for such practices, to 
     provide certain minimum standards for consumer mortgage 
     loans, and for other purposes:

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 1728, the 
``Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act.'' Risky lending 
practices, combined with the consequent securitization of mortgages, 
ultimately brought a violent end to the housing bubble and left the 
United States with a constricted credit market not seen in generations. 
In short, simple avarice and an inexcusable disregard for the long-term 
health of the mortgage market gave rise to the economic crisis in which 
this Nation presently finds itself mired.
  Just as our predecessors did in the wake of the Great Depression, we, 
too, must enact laws to ensure transparency in our economy and prevent 
the recurrence of practices that have left millions of Americans facing 
foreclosure. H.R. 1728 is but one of several essential means by which 
to achieve that end. This legislation, by requiring the licensing and 
registration of mortgage originators and proof of a borrower's ability 
to repay a home loan, will serve to impede--and hopefully altogether 
prevent--the irresponsible home lending practices that have in great 
part crippled the economy of my home state of Michigan, which, with one 
foreclosed home for every 136, has the sixth-highest foreclosure rate 
in the nation.
  Although politically expedient to focus our ire over the current 
economic crisis on insalubrious actors in the financial services sector 
and making them the target of punitive legislation, we must not lose 
sight of the necessity

[[Page E1087]]

of providing consumers adequate protection from predatory lenders. H.R. 
1728 recognizes this by prohibiting any compensation structure that 
could cause a loan originator to steer applicants toward costlier 
mortgages, providing a grace period for tenants before eviction from 
their homes, and creating an Office of Housing Counseling within the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development to educate consumers about 
what some might term as the Byzantine inner-workings of the housing 
market.
  I am proud to support passage of this legislation and urge my 
colleagues to do so as well.

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