Nation

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Nation

NAR DISSAPOINTED IN SUPREME COURT BANK RULING

NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs says she’s concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday that the mortgage subsidiary of Wachovia Corp., a national bank, isn’t subject to oversight by state regulators and the implications that ruling could have on the real estate industry. The Supreme Court said Wachovia’s mortgage unit instead will be regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal banking regulator. The ruling could mean that if banks are ever allowed to enter the real estate business, which Justice John Paul Stevens identified as a possibility in his dissent, the OCC may claim that real estate brokerage subsidiaries qualify for a similar exemption from state regulations, Combs says. She also notes the ruling gives federally chartered banks a major competitive advantage over their non-national counterparts, at the expense of state licensing, marketplace competition, and perhaps even consumer protection measures.

CONGRESS TAKES ON LENDING INDUSTRY
Congress is targeting the rising tide of home foreclosures and the sagging subprime loan business, and its efforts are likely to result in changes in the way the home finance industry does business.

Here are some key proposals on the table:

Impose a six-month national moratorium on foreclosures.
Increase federal support for local foreclosure prevention programs.
Strengthen the Federal Housing Authority and give it a "rescue fund" that would allow it to buy failed mortgages and restore credit on the loans Increase penalties on banks that violate federal lending laws.
Extend federal regulations to mortgage brokers and other loan officers who are now only regulated by state laws.
Create a federal anti-predatory lending law.
Establish a federal standard for a borrower's ability to pay.
Source: Gannett News Service, Ana Radelat (04/13/07)