Edwards Statement On Bush Plan To Ease Mortgage Crisis

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards released the following statement:

"Our nation is facing a housing crisis that could cost millions of families their homes, devastate neighborhoods, and seriously damage our economy. The Bush plan is months late and more than a million families short. It helps only 12 percent of homeowners with subprime mortgages, according to Barclay's, and fails to ensure that any loans are refinanced.

"Lenders have only helped 1 percent of borrowers so far. It won't help to kick the problem down the road and hope they have a change of heart. Now is a time for decisive action. We need a safety net for all borrowers, not just a few, by halting foreclosures until lenders make a serious effort to offer relief to families. As a last resort, bankruptcy judges ought to be able to rewrite mortgages on family homes – like they can on vacation homes – so that families are not put on the street.

"As president, I will restore the American Dream of homeownership by standing up to the corporate interests and their lobbyists and passing strong federal laws to protect working families from predatory mortgages and abusive financial products."

The Edwards Plan

Yesterday, Edwards outlined bold proposals, including a new right for every family to halt the foreclosure process until their lender offers key foreclosure prevention steps. His plan would also insist that any freeze on interest rates keep rates low for seven years so housing markets can fully recover and families have the time to escape unaffordable mortgages. Edwards also outlined other steps to address the foreclosure crisis, including creating (1) a Home Rescue Fund to help families move into affordable mortgages, (2) new rules allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages on family homes, and (3) a central reporting system to keep track of lenders' progress in modifying loans and to facilitate fraud and predatory lending investigations. Finally, Edwards called for passing a strong national law against predatory lending and creating a new federal regulator for financial services products to prevent future crisis.

For more information on Edwards' plan for ending the housing crisis, please visit: http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071205-homeownership/.