Housing
More on Housing
Homebuyers could feel the pinch if Congress follows through on plans to shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage guarantee giants that were rescued by a $187 billion taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis.
Borrowers would probably end up paying slightly higher mortgage rates under House and Senate bills that would phase out Fannie and Freddie over five years and shrink the government's huge role in guaranteeing mortgage securities. Fannie and Freddie teetered under a crush of massive losses on risky mortgages before being bailed out.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama's speech outlining his plan for housing finance reform in Phoenix.
The cuts were brought on by the so-called "sequester": automatic reductions in federal spending that began in March as a result of Congress' inability to agree on long-term budget cuts.
Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee released the following statement in response to committee passage of the inaptly-named "Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act" or "PATH Act" (H.R. 2767). H.R. 2767 is a Republican bill that would unwind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and remove any government support from the secondary mortgage market.
Today, in response to Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling's release of a proposal to reform the nation's housing finance system, Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters released the following statement:
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter today to Christy L. Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), calling for an investigation of Bank of America or any other mortgage servicer, who allegedly benefitted by misleading borrowers eligible for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, is asking for an investigation into claims that Bank of America purposefully delayed borrowers from entering the Home Affordable Modification Program.
The California Democrat penned letters to several government officials on Tuesday, asking that they to look into the allegations made in an ongoing lawsuit, which were detailed in a report by Bloomberg last week.
OVER her 22 years in Congress, Maxine Waters has likened bank executives to "gangsters," snarkily addressed them as "captains of the universe" and threatened to tax their companies "out of business."
The Democrat from Los Angeles, in other words, is not known for showing love to the financial industry.
So in March, when she visited a group of community bankers in a conservative corner of her district, she seemed ready for a chilly reception. "Let's see what these guys have to say for themselves," Ms. Waters said with a smirk as she emerged from her S.U.V.