Barney Frank: “I think the gentlewoman confused a couple of issues. When I talk about not charging someone more because she has a lower…”

“I think the gentlewoman confused a couple of issues. When I talk about not charging someone more because she has a lower credit score, and it is often a ``she'' that is in that category, it is not the no-down-payment category. What the bill does that the gentlewoman has is to say if you are someone with a lower credit score and get a loan with a down payment, you get charged more even if you make your payments. By the way, the bill that she would replace with last year's bill would also knock out several protections we have in this bill against FHA fees being raised. The FHA doesn't want to raise fees. OMB has ordered FHA to try to raise fees. Congress has had to intervene. There are in our version, unlike the version the gentlewoman is offering, protections against fee increases. We have an amendment that was advocated by the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite, and the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Marshall, to limit the amount that can be charged to older people taking out reverse equity mortgages. That is in the bill that the gentlewoman wants to displace, and she would displace it with a bill that has no such protection for older people.”