Tell Banks NO To A Second Foreclosure Crisis!
Now that the elections are over, bank lobbyists are in Washington D.C. trying to peddle their schemes once again.
This time they want total immunity from making bad loans to consumers--that's right, legal protection from making those same rotten loans that were at the heart of the foreclosure crisis!
The lobbyists are shopping an amendment that would shield them from any legal responsibility for making predatory loans, or making loans they know a consumer won't be able to pay back. Worse, they want to attach it to a bill that would make it easier for homeowners to refinance at today's low interest rates. It's a poison-pill amendment to an otherwise good bill.
Tell your Senators to vote NO on any amendment that would grant immunity to banks for making bad loans. We don't need to go back to the future on the foreclosure crisis!
Dear [Decision Maker],
The last thing our country needs is another foreclosure crisis, yet a proposal being shopped by bank lobbyists could lead us down that path again. I urge you to oppose any 'safe harbor' amendment to S. 3522 that would grant legal immunity to banks for making bad or predatory loans. Pushing bad loans is exactly what got us into this financial crisis, and this amendment would once again allow banks to drive our economy into a ditch.
Consumers need more protection from the banks' unscrupulous loan practices not less. In fact, S. 3522 seeks to help homeowners hurt by the foreclosure crisis by making it easier for them to refinance at today's low interest rates and hang on to their homes, rather than face foreclosure.
[Your comment will be added here]
Yet an amendment to S. 3522 being shopped by bank lobbyists would undermine the bill. The amendment, if it passed, would grant a so-called "safe harbor" or legal immunity to banks for predatory loans they know that consumers won't be able to pay back. It would strip a homeowner of his or her right to pursue justice against a wrongful foreclosure. In other words, it would let banks off the hook for not verifying that borrowers have the ability to repay.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
