On the recordDecember 17, 2010
I rise today, on one of the final days in this Congress, to raise the importance of this issue because of the current fragile condition of the U.S. housing economy and, most importantly, to underscore what a handful of Senators in this body did last summer in the financial reform bill to begin to improve and strengthen the eroding lending standards that got us into this position in the first place. I ran a business for 22 years in residential housing in Atlanta. During that time, the average default rate, or delinquent rate, was about 3 percent on mortgages. The foreclosure rate was less than 1 1/2. Things have changed dramatically in the last few years because of sloppy underwriting, no credit, and no documentation.
