Federal Laws Proposed for Mortgage Industry
New federal laws to regulate the troubled mortgage industry are being recommended by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
In a report discussed today in a news conference by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chairs the committee, the panel detailed the impact of high-risk sub-prime mortgages and foreclosures and called for increased federal oversight, the LA Times reports.
Traditionally regulated by individual states, mortgage lending, loan underwriting and real estate agent licensing standards should be monitored at the federal level, the report recommends. It also calls for the creation of a federal anti-predatory lending law and stricter standards for required disclosure of mortgage information to borrowers.
The average national mortgage foreclosure rate is now one in every 92 households, the story reports, although some believe the data on which this information is based artificially inflates the number of foreclosures.
