Dear President Obama: Time for that foreclosure moratorium
Dear President Obama:
Congratulations. That sure was a great crowd and a beautiful speech.
But of course, you’ve stood in front of a lot of crowds and made a lot of beautiful speeches. Here’s part of one you made here in Ohio three months ago:
For those Americans in danger of losing their homes, today I’m also proposing a three-month moratorium on foreclosures. If you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed Congress, and your customers are making a good-faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months. We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet.
Remember that? We do.
Last week the Congress agreed to give you the authority to spend the remaining $350 billion in TARP bailout money, with no new strings attached.  Your team is talking tough. But we’ve been hearing tough talk for months. So far it has meant nothing.
As of this afternoon, you’re finally in a position to do more than talk.
Since you made that speech in Toledo on October 13, more than 3,500 new foreclosures have been filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. More than 1,500 additional Cuyahoga County homes have actually been auctioned off by our county sheriff. Our court currently has over 7,000 “active” foreclosure cases on its docket.
Mr. President, it’s time to walk the walk. Now. Today.
Here’s the kind of statement we need to see coming out of the Obama White House:
As one of his first official acts in office, President Obama announced today that he is calling on U.S. financial institutions, as well as foreign institutions operating in the U.S., to suspend any and all actions leading to additional foreclosures or foreclosure sales of occupied homes during the next ninety days.
The President said cooperation with the moratorium is expected from any institution which has received Federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (”TARP”) funds to date, and will be a “threshold requirement” for any future TARP assistance.
The President said the three-month “breathing space” is needed to establish new foreclosure mitigation guidelines for the TARP program, as well as put in place effective Federal initiatives to reduce the millions of home foreclosures already in court or expected to be filed during the first quarter of 2009. He said he will direct the Secretaries of the Treasury and HUD to hold urgent meetings with mortgage industry leaders and individual banks, as well as consumer and community advocacy organizations, to expedite this policy development process.
The President added that his Administration will conduct stringent reviews of the recent foreclosure practices of banks which have already received TARP funds — including their roles as servicers, trustees or major investors in mortgage based securities (MBS) — and will look “very unfavorably” on continued assistance to any institution which fails to document a strong, concerted effort to keep borrowers in their homes through negotiated settlements.Â
Okay, that’s a little clunky. I’m sure your speechwriters can polish it up — maybe throw in something about the New Era of Responsibility.
But please, get them to do it fast. We really don’t need more inspiring rhetoric.
We need inspired action. And Mr. President… yes, you can.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I wouldn’t hold my breath. No politician has really attempted to deal with this problem. And none of those hacks want to confront the real criminals in the financial world (not that all financial people are criminals, but there are some in the banks that need to see some quiet time in the care of the state).
Anyway, I think we’ve seen enough to expect more of the same old from Washington, just with new rhetoric.