| NCRC to Testify at House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Solutions to Help Borrowers Caught in Subprime Lending Web Will Detail How Its Existing Consumer Rescue Fund Works & Will Push for FHA Re-financing One of the nation`s biggest and most respected advocates for fair housing, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, will testify on Capitol Hill this Tuesday on ways to help borrowers caught in the subprime lending web. In March, NCRC President John Taylor urged the Administration and Congress to amend federal regulations to allow the Federal Housing Administration to refinance sub-prime borrowers` loans in default, preventing a torrent of defaults and foreclosures expected to deluge the mortgage market as a result of the sub-prime lending crisis. Taylor referred to the crisis as a "mortgage tsunami." Since then, foreclosure and defaults have been on the increase, and some experts have warned that borrowers with more traditional loans could become victims of the predatory lending practices associated with subprime.
NCRC will explain to members of the House Financial Services Committee how its National Anti-Predatory Lending Consumer Rescue Fund has been helping borrowers in troubled loans remediate them with lenders, offering families a fresh start. The CRF, in partnership with NCRC`s members, HSBC and other private and public sector sponsors assists and educates consumers and evaluates loan terms to determine if they are problematic in nature or not. It has assisted over 5000 homeowners since 2001. NCRC has pushed for a larger national rescue fund to help refinance the exotic loans that have trapped borrowers in mortgages with escalating interest rates and exorbitant fees. The national community group and its 640 nonprofit members from across the country will repeat their call to allow FHA to refinance some of the subprime loans to prevent lenders from foreclosing on properties. NCRC will forcefully argue that this is not a market bail-out, but needed due to public and private sector inaction and to the widespread use of inappropriate products by lenders as documented by the CRF.
WHAT: Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee WHO: David Berenbaum, Executive Vice President, National Community Reinvestment Coalition WHEN: April 17th, Tuesday. 10:00 am EDT WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2128 NCRC is a nonprofit founded in 1990 to ensure all Americans who can afford to borrow can get a loan. It has 640 dues-paying members in every state.
Source: National Community Reinvestment Coalition CONTACT: Karen Hinton of NCRC, +1-703-798-3109,
karen@hintoncommunications.com
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