Boy, Mr. Beatty made some pretty wild accusations in Monday night's NECN debate with Sen. Kerry. Here's another video in which the Senator's Republican challenger points to JK's 'deep involvement' regarding predatory lending practices. He started out right, the Senator was deeply involved. Just not in the way Mr. Beatty suggests.
S. 2415. A bill to amend the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 and other sections of the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers against predatory practices in connection with high cost mortgage transactions, to strengthen the civil remedies available to consumers under existing law, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
PREDATORY LENDING CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2000
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act with Senators DODD, KERRY, and SCHUMER. This legislation is a companion to an identical bill being introduced by Representative LAFALCE in the House of Representatives, along with a number of his colleagues.
Representative LAFALCE has demonstrated his strong commitment to a banking system that takes into consideration the credit needs of all Americans, including those that have been traditionally locked out of the market or are less sophisticated. I thank him for his leadership.
Homeownership is the American Dream. It is the opportunity for all Americans to put down roots and start creating equity for themselves and their families. Homeownership has been the path to building wealth for generations of Americans; it has been the key to ensuring stable communities, good schools, and safe streets.
The predatory lending industry plays on these hopes and dreams to cheat people of their hard-earned wealth. These lenders target working and lower income families, the elderly, and, often, uneducated homeowners for their abusive practices. To my mind, nothing can be more cynical.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry [D-Massachusetts] co-sponsored a tough antipredatory lending bill last year--the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2003--generally opposed by the industry, and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards [D-North Carolina], introduced legislation earlier this year designed to overturn the OCC's pre-emption of state law. These actions are strong indications of things to come if they are elected. (Mortgage Banking 01-SEP-04)
August 27, 2004Kerry Unveils Plan to Help Middle-Class Families Save and Get Ahead
Daly City, CA – In a town hall meeting with middle-class families Friday, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry unveiled a series of new proposals to ensure fairness in our economy by helping hardworking families save for the future and get ahead. Kerry’s new proposals, which will curb unfair and deceptive lending practices, represent another example of the fundamental choice facing voters in this election: four more years of an administration that puts narrow interests ahead of middle-class families or the Kerry-Edwards plan that strengthens and expands the middle class.
In a show of support for the proposals Kerry unveiled today, seven state Attorneys General released a statement commending Kerry for his “commitment to protecting America’s consumers” and recognizing the need for help after nearly four years of an “administration (that) has too often sided against families who need help and protection.”
“In this country, we respect hard work, we value our families, and we make sure everyone has a chance to get ahead,” Kerry said. “The good news is that we can do something about unfair and deceptive lending practices and put billions of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking families.”
Responsible lending plays an essential role in our society, and borrowers must take responsibility as well. But ripping off families is wrong.
As yesterday’s report from the Census Bureau revealed, middle-class families are earning $1,500 less than in 2000, and as a result, it comes as no surprise that families experience debt, foreclosures and bankruptcies at record levels.
Making matters worse, one in nine families falls victim to consumer fraud. While many lenders are responsible, some credit card companies and mortgage lenders are taking advantage of families who are already earning less in the Bush economy.
10/19/2007 Kerry Pushes Treasury on Housing Crunch, Requests Emergency ResponseWASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry wrote to Treasury Secretary Paulson, asking him to provide a plan to address the national foreclosure crisis. Today, more than two million American families, including thousands in Massachusetts, risk losing their homes to foreclosure in the near future.
“I’m asking Secretary Paulson to take overdue action now before today’s housing crunch becomes tomorrow’s recession. They need to take aggressive action to save homeowners from foreclosure. So far, the Bush Administration has responded to the mortgage crisis just as they respond to most challenges - they protect their friends first while they play a shell game with those being hit hardest. The steps taken so far only scratch the surface of what the government could be doing to respond. Instead of helping banks and bondholders stay on top at all costs, the Treasury should be ensuring American families do not lose the roof over their heads.”
Only a paltry 1 percent of troubled subprime mortgages have been restructured by lenders. Kerry joined Sheila Bair, Chair of the FDIC, in asking for immediate action to develop a systematic approach for lenders to make loan modifications so creditworthy families can stay in their homes.
Kerry also called to immediately increase the portfolio caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by ten percent on a temporary basis, to insure that more families get access to fair, non-predatory mortgages. Unfortunately, this has been opposed by the Bush Administration.
Finally, he is pushing Congress to enact legislation to prohibit the most abusive and predatory lending practices that disclosures cannot protect against. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has also opposed legislation to stop predatory lending.
Didn't Mr. Beatty vote for George Bush? I'm thinking yes, and that shows a remarkable lack of judgment considering President Bush's neglect of the sub prime crisis.
Bush Administration Overrides State Protections Against Abusive Lending. The Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), a division of the U.S. Treasury, recently ruled that state laws on predatory lending do not apply to national banks or their subsidiaries. This move preempts state laws that crack down on predatory lending and exposes consumers to abusive lending across America. The measure is opposed by all 50 governors and state attorneys general, AARP, and a broad coalition of consumer groups. As New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer noted, "This is a continuation on the part of the Bush administration to pre-empt state enforcement in areas that are critical to ensuring civil rights and consumer rights.” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper similarly called the measure “unacceptable.” (New York Times, 1/27/04; Charlotte Observer, 1/8/04)
Bush Administration Joins Credit Card Companies to Override State Disclosure Laws. California enacted legislation requiring credit card companies to disclose to borrowers the consequences of making only minimum payments, as John Kerry proposes today. The Bush Administration joined with credit card companies to seek to overturn the state regulations in court. While the Bush Administration said that the state regulations were “pre-empted” by federal law, the Administration has not supported federal laws to require national disclosures, and has supported bankruptcy “reform” instead. (Sacramento Bee, 5/10/03)
Bush Administration Moves to Relax Reinvestment Requirements for 1,100 Banks. The Community Reinvestment Act is the key federal law requiring banks to lend to families and businesses in low- and moderate-income communities. Until today, smaller institutions qualified for relaxed review under CRA only if they had less than $250 million in assets. But under the Bush Administration, the four regulatory bodies are poised to enact a proposal to raise that threshold to $1 billion. This proposal will relax review for 1,100 banks and will have a particularly negative impact on the small towns and rural areas where smaller institutions operate. (The Hill, 7/22/04), (Senators Protest Weakening Of Community Reinvestment Act Regulations, Office of Senator Paul Sarbanes, 5/18/04)
Despite Mr. Beatty's attempt to place the responsibility for 'the bailout' on Sen. Kerry, when the truth is the opposite. The original economic rescue plan proposed by Sec. Paulson and President Bush had no taxpayer protections. Democrats, including Sen. Kerry fought for oversight, limits on executive compensation and taxpayer protections.
Beatty also got the AIG thing wrong, by the way, so that little smear has been debunked. Did Mr. Beatty manage to say anything in this debate that isn't easily discredited by a little bit of research and a bit of time with the Google?
Maybe next we should move on to the IWR, since Beatty brought it up. In hindsight, not Sen. Kerry's finest moment, but a vote to authorize the President to go to war as a last resort isn't nearly as damning as Mr. Beatty's vote for the guy who actually took us there, now is it?
