Mortgage Relief Bill Moving Forward in Congress
A mortgage relief bill is moving forward in Congress right now. However, there is some sparring over how much the federal government should do for ailing homeowners. While there has been some compromise in some areas, there are still issues in other areas. And, of course, no one is bothering about how, ultimately, we’re going to pay for all of this.
Negative equity is a problem in many cases. According to the New York Times, that’s not really the issue right now with the mortgage relief bill:
Both the plan supported by Democrats and the administration’s plan seek to stabilize the battered housing market by allowing a homeowner, who may now owe more than his home is worth, to get out of an expensive adjustable-rate mortgage and refinance into a more stable and affordable 30-year loan backed by the federal government.
Other issues, though, are arising. Conservative Republicans are opposing some of the measures put forth by Democrats. The White House is threatening to veto a version of a Senate bill that offers a wide expansion of the existing FHA mortgage insurance program.
Democrats claim that their measures would help 1.5 million of the 2 million borrowers expected to go through foreclosure by 2009 (the Bush Administration disputes these numbers). Of course, even if Senate Republicans are on board with more expansive measures, House Republicans feel differently in many cases. On The Hill, a blog that includes posts written by members of Congress, Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) points this out:
It is not the role of the federal government to create equity in a home. Yet the proposal we discussed yesterday would put the federal government in a position of determining a borrower’s equity and put the taxpayers on the hook for any further declines in that borrower’s equity or default.
A valid point.
But is it the role of the federal government to create share value for slumping stocks? What about putting the taxpayer on the hook for the JP Morgan takeover of Bear Stearns? Why aren’t these lawmakers concerned about this?
What do you think of efforts regarding a mortgage relief bill?
Tags: foreclosures, negative equity, home mortgage loan, mortgage loan blog,
mortgage relief bill, mortgage relief Congress
July 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
[…] has been plenty of partisan wrangling over the housing relief bill currently making its way sluggishly through Congress. And there has been disputes between Congress […]