Mortgages

WASHINGTON — A united call from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill for the Bush administration to step up its handling of the mortgage crisis appeared to be more about political maneuvering than a substantive outline of a new plan, industry analysts said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, is expected to introduce a mortgage reform bill soon that tightens underwriting standards, enhances broker regulation, and sets aside more than $2 billion towards foreclosure prevention, affordable housing and mortgage fraud prosecution.

WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank’s approach to crafting legislation aimed at toughening standards for mortgage underwriting and lending practices is garnering the unlikely acceptance of the financial services sector.

WASHINGTON — Nearly every policymaker jumped into the fray last week with some kind of action related to the subprime housing crisis. The Federal Reserve Board cut interest rates; the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight eased caps on the mortgage portfolios of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson shifted the White House stance on the government-sponsored enterprises; and the House and the Senate Banking Committee passed a Federal Housing Administration reform bill.

The Federal Reserve's bailout of the subprime follies of financial institutions by cutting interest rates this week may help the industry continue, without due diligence, to roll the dice on unduly rosy outcomes.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would reform the Federal Housing Administration, and the bipartisan vote of 20 to 1 signals the legislation is likely to pass the full Senate soon.

WASHINGTON — The congressional response to the subprime mortgage crisis continued to evolve Wednesday as Sen. Charles Schumer said he would introduce legislation to give borrowers a simple, one-page form outlining the structure of their home loan.

The House approved legislation 348 to 72 that lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle said would give low- and moderate-income homeowners an alternative to subprime mortgages and help struggling borrowers.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Housing and Urban Development is close to completing a new proposal to overhaul enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, according to sources.

WASHINGTON — Coming off a monthlong break in which problems in the subprime mortgage market only worsened, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said Wednesday he would introduce legislation to revamp the mortgage industry.

WASHINGTON — When Congress returns from recess today, its top financial services priority for the fall agenda will be responding to the crisis in the mortgage markets.

WASHINGTON — Bankers and consumer groups are clashing in suggestions to the Federal Reserve Board about what it should include in a rule restricting mortgage practices.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles Schumer blamed Countrywide Financial Corp. for helping to driving up home foreclosure rates and said it should stop steering borrowers into risky mortgages.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board has defended its consumer-protection record — and made the case that it does not need to write rules defining unfair and deceptive practices — by saying regulators are addressing issues on a case-by-case basis through enforcement actions.

WASHINGTON — Though the snapshot of second-quarter earnings came well before the current credit crunch, ample signs of trouble to come were visible in a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. report released Wednesday, including sharp increases in noncurrent loans, loan-loss provisions, and chargeoffs.

Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters to lenders and regulators Wednesday encouraging them to do more to help struggling homeowners.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sparred Tuesday over who was in the best position to resolve problems in the credit markets, with each trying to give the responsibility to the other.

California legislators are to hold another hearing on the subprime mortgage implosion this week, and this time they will be looking to see what can be done to slow the pace of residential foreclosures.

WASHINGTON — After months of pressure from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the Federal Reserve Board has begun working on a proposal that would define unfair and deceptive lending practices, according to sources familiar with the situation.

A month after House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank told the Federal Reserve Board to use or lose its power to ban unfair and deceptive banking practices, the Massachusetts Democrat said he wants to hand that power to two other agencies.