Capital Briefs: Automatic Mortgage Insurance Cut off Gains

The House approved, on a 421-7 vote, legislation Thursday that would automatically cancel private mortgage insurance when a borrower's equity in a home reaches 25%.

The bill also would require lenders to make annual disclosures showing how much a borrower would have to pay on the loan to avoid mortgage insurance.

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach said the bill is "pro- consumer, pro-homeowner, pro-states rights-and it underscores decency and fairness under the law."

Wednesday's approval came eight days after Republican leaders-under pressure from the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America-canceled a vote on the measure.

"This bill has been knocked off-track more times than a dog sled in the Iditarod," Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, D-Mass., said on the House floor Wednesday.

Contrary to an April 14 report in American Banker, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition did not urge lawmakers to cancel the earlier vote, officials at the group said.

The Senate Banking Committee is working on similar legislation.

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