Political Quotes

“I rise today regarding the U.S. Senate's passage of S. 1749, the Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act, by unanimous consent. The Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act aims to preserve access to affordable VA mortgages for the millions of veterans and brave men and women in uniform in Arizona and around the country. Last year, Congress passed S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, a bipartisan regulatory relief package for community financial institutions. Among other issues, this package sought to crack down on ``mortgage churning,'' a predatory practice wherein lenders push veterans over and over to repeatedly refinance their home, even when there is no clear benefit to doing so. With each refinance, the lenders take a fee. Veterans, on the other hand, enter into a cycle of debt where fees and interest rates cost more than the initial mortgage payments. To stop these predatory lenders and the practice of churning, S. 2155 put into place new requirements that must be met in order for a refinanced loan to obtain VA guaranty and securitization from Ginnie Mae, the U.S. Government corporation that helps lenders make more affordable mortgages to veterans, first-time home buyers, and low- income borrowers. Unfortunately, these new requirements were inconsistent with Ginnie Mae loan seasoning requirements.…”