Research

Ben Bernanke, Chairman Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System John Walsh, Acting Comptroller Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Sheila Bair, Chairman Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation John Bowman, Acting Director Office of Thrift Supervision Re: Withdrawal of Proposed Consent Orders Regarding Mortgage Servicing Illegalities Dear Federal Regulators of the Financial Institutions of the United States: The undersigned national labor, civil rights, consumer and community organizations call on you to withdraw the proposed consent orders issued to the nation's mortgage servicers...

CRL joins civil rights groups in asking Congress to take a comprehensive approach to GSE reform that addresses lending disparities and underserved borrowers.

Read the full report (PDF) >> Read the executive summary (PDF) >> Payday Loans, Inc.: Short on Credit, Long on Debt dispels the notion that a payday loan is a short-term debt. Although marketed and advertised as a quick solution to an occasional financial shortfall, the actual experience of payday loan borrowers reveals there is nothing quick about the loan except its small principal. According to new CRL research that tracked about 11,000 payday borrowers over two years, many borrowers remained indebted for the 24 months that followed their initial loan. As payday's crippling cycle of debt...

SB 1015 protects NC homeowners from a range of predatory practices. The law addresses three main issues: foreclosure rescue scams, abusive lease-option contracts, and abusive contract for deed/land installment sales. Foreclosure Rescue Scams The law cracks down on foreclosure rescue scams where the scammer takes title to the property without taking any responsibility for the mortgage. The law requires that if the homeowner is in foreclosure, the title to the property is transferred to someone else, representations are made that the transaction will save the home from foreclosure, and the...

SB 1216 has two major components. First, it continues the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project (SHFPP) through May 31, 2013 and expands the program to cover all NC home loans not just subprime loans. Second, it modifies the points & fees trigger for determining if a mortgage is high-cost. State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project Continued & Expanded This law continues and expands the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project (SHFPP), which the NC Office of the Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB) and the NC Administrator of the Courts have administered since November 2008. This program provides...

SB 974, SB 974, which had the strong support of Attorney General Roy Cooper, includes important new consumer protections in two distinct areas: Greater protections for homeowners during the foreclosure process; and greater protections for consumers against abusive debt buying activities. Foreclosure protections: This new law allows a clerk of court to continue (delay) a foreclosure hearing for up to 60 days for owner-occupied residential property if the clerk believes that additional time will increase the likelihood of resolving the delinquency without foreclosure. This delay gives homeowners...

H1057 prohibits deficiency judgments on predatory home loans in North Carolina. A deficiency judgment can be pursued by the lender if a foreclosed home sells at auction for less than the mortgage on the home. For the increasing number of homeowners who owe more on their loan than their home is worth (upside down in their mortgage), deficiency judgments add tremendously to the hardship of losing their home. This law prohibits deficiency judgments for first-lien subprime or non-traditional loans (like payment option adjustable rate mortgages) made on or after January 1st, 2005, unless the lender...

H1058 significantly increases the amount of equity in their home that a homeowner can protect from creditors. This allows individuals with debt to keep their homes rather than having their home sold to satisfy a judgment. The law raises the NC homestead exemption from $18,500 to $35,000 per individual ($70,000 per married couple). If the homeowner is 65 or older, and previously owned the home with their deceased spouse, they can exempt $60,000.

HB 1523, with the strong support of the NC Commissioner of Banks, rewrote the current NC Mortgage Lending Act (MLA) to conform to standards required under new Federal legislation. Though the bulk of the Act stays the same, some new protections were added, including: Increases the bond required for mortgage brokers from $50,000 for all brokers to a sliding scale of $75,000 to $250,000, depending on the broker's lending activity, and Explicitly states that the broker owes a duty of loyalty to the borrower and cannot make loans that are in the broker's best interest rather than the borrower's...

Banks' Foreclosure Bias Hurts Investors CRL's report—"Fix or Evict? Loan Modifications Return More Value Than Foreclosures"—shows that banks routinely choose foreclosure over modifying mortgages, even when fixing the loan would be better for loan investors. This bias to foreclose drains investments, including pension funds for retirement, and slows economic recovery. Download PDF of complete report here. What do investors think? See our press release, including a quote from Bill Frey, President of Greenwich Financial Services. When a mortgage becomes delinquent, loan servicers are charged with...