MBA Concerned About Anti-Predatory Lending Legislation

  Kieran P. Quinn, CMB, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today expressed concerns about H.R. 3915, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007.   The bill was marked up today in the House Financial Services Committee and passed the Committee by a vote of 45-19.

Mr. Quinn issued the following statement:

"While the Committee accommodated a number of concerns we raised with the bill, we regret that the Committee did not address a series of other important issues.  We cannot support a bill which does not provide broad national uniformity in the fight against predatory lending.  We want a clear, national standard for lenders to adhere to and for consumers to hold lenders accountable to.

In addition, the `rebuttable presumption` provision exposes a lender to liability even when a loan meets the qualified safe harbor requirements, defeating the point of having a safe harbor.  Further, we have serious concerns that the well-intentioned renter provisions will make it harder for homes in the foreclosure process to be sold to families and other third parties. We also fear that the lower HOEPA triggers will eliminate certain good products from the mortgage market, and thus eliminate viable choices for some borrowers. 

We commend the Committee for the open process they used in producing this bill and look forward to working with Chairman Frank, Ranking Member Bachus and the rest of the committee to help craft a bill that will provide the best protection for borrowers, without restricting access to credit for worthy homebuyers." 

 John Mechem              (202) 557-2924    jmechem@mortgagebankers.org