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Congresswoman Waters Announces Hearing to Investigate Mortgage Servicing Problems, Consider Solutions to Foreclosure Crisis

October 18, 2010

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), who chairs the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, announced that the subcommittee will hold a hearing on the foreclosure crisis as soon as the House of Representatives reconvenes in November.

The hearing, scheduled for Thursday, November 18th at 10:00 a.m., will investigate the problems that have recently surfaced in the mortgage servicing industry, including improper and illegal foreclosures.  Media reports and the nation's major banks themselves have revealed that improper and potentially fraudulent foreclosures have been widespread, not merely isolated incidents, and several of the leading mortgage servicers have voluntarily suspended at least some of their foreclosure proceedings to investigate their procedures.

In addition to hearing testimony from industry representatives, government regulators, and outside watchdogs, Chairwoman Waters wants to examine various proposed solutions to address the nation's foreclosure crisis.

"The foreclosure process is a patchwork of different state rules, timeframes and procedures so there is no single national standard," noted Congresswoman Waters, "but some states are providing innovative, effective responses that might be informative for Congress and federal policymakers."

Congresswoman Waters has introduced the Foreclosure Prevention and Sound Mortgage Servicing Act (H.R. 3451) to keep homeowners in their homes, and ensure that foreclosure remains a last resort only after loan modifications have been explored.

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