Democratic Presidential Candidate's Suggestions to Stop Foreclosure include John Edwards' Goal to Rewrite Bankruptcy Laws!
Did you know that a recent Business Wire press release indicated that one out of every 879 households in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure during the month of July? That's right. There were approximately 131,574 households in foreclosure last month.
Democratic presidential candidates have certainly become aware of these numbers and been keeping their eyes on the nation's foreclosure crisis. In fact, presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton of New York, John Edwards of North Carolina, Barack Obama of Illinois and Chris Dodd of Connecticut have begun to offer their own plans to stop foreclosure.
While being described by Edwards as entering the foreclosure game late, Clinton has thrown out a lot of ideas on how she would stop foreclosure. Chief among her proposals, Clinton has pledged to ban penalty fees for early repayments of loans and to also create a $1 billion fund to help those families who need to stop foreclosure or may need to do so in the future.
Clinton has indicated that she will introduce her foreclosure legislation some time after Labor Day Weekend. Her comprehensive proposal will also require lenders to disclose the fact that they make more money on selling larger mortgages and also mandate that they include taxes and insurance in their calculations of whether or not a prospective homeowner can afford a mortgage. Clinton has also suggested that she would like to create an online registry detailing a history of complaints against brokers.
Edwards has been championing himself as being for the everyday person thus far and has made the foreclosure crisis a big focal point. Specifically, Edwards has said that he would support a national law eradicating abusive lending practices like balloon loans, in which interest rates jack up in time and leave homeowners unable to pay their monthly mortgage payments.
Edwards, a former personal injury lawyer, has also said that he would like to rewrite bankruptcy laws in the country and establish a fund for homeowners who have "underwater mortgages" that are actually higher than the value of their homes.
Like Edwards, Dodd has positioned himself as being on the lookout to protect homeowners for years. As an example, the Dodd camp has pointed out how he has sponsored legislation against abusive lending practices since the beginning of this decade.
And what about the rising political star Obama? He has offered foreclosure legislation boosting mortgage fraud penalties and providing counseling for people who need to stop foreclosure.
It shall be interesting to see how these Democratic candidates continue to address the foreclosure crisis as they push for their party's nomination for the 2008 Presidential Election. The foreclosure crisis offers these Democrats the opportunity to paint a bleak picture of how the Bush administration took care of the middle- and lower-income families, and could very well be a rallying point among these important segments of voters!