Congress lays an egg
As I look over the mortgage rescue legislation the Senate is considering, I conclude they are clueless about what it takes to keep families in their homes. No foreclosure is going to be prevented by counseling. No home is saved by giving buyers at foreclosure sales a tax credit. Measures to prevent this mess from occurring again don’t help today’s sufferers an iota.
The one provision in the proposed bill that might help today’s homeowners facing foreclosure was the provision that allows bankruptcy courts to perform the loss mitigation that the lenders talk about but don’t do. Let bankruptcy courts write secured claims down to the value of the property today; let the court excise the indexed increases in interest rates. Provide some meaningful help to real, live families who may otherwise be homeless.
If Congress can’t do that (and they show few signs of willingness to buck the bankers who brought us this mess) they should at least refrain from claiming they are doing anything to keep people in their homes. Would you say that’s likely?