AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

House to Vote On Predatory Lending Bill


Today the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Rep. Barney Frank's predatory lending bill HR-3915. As predatory lending bills go, it's a pretty good one, unfortunately, what we really need is an ANTI-predatory lending bill. It appears that most democratic and some republican representatives are expected to vote for the bill. Most consumer advocate groups and most lending industry groups oppose the bill, but for different reasons.

The consumer groups, such as Public Citizen, PIRG, and the National Association of Consumer Advocates oppose the bill because it creates a ceiling, not a floor, for consumer protection. It increases federal preemption over tough state laws, when preemption should decrease, and it creates a safe haven for assignees of mortgage obligations. If assignees would have paid attention to the crap they were buying, we would have never had this problem to begin with.

Here's a link to a critique by Alan White in the Public Citizen Consumer Protection blog.

Note- this is me talking not 3357 - I strongly urge you to call, write or email your representative, and let your representative know that you want an anti-predatory lending bill, and not a predatory lending bill, and HR-3915 just doesn't cut it.