Melvin Watt: “I have listened to and acknowledged the concerns that are raised by the other side and by Mr. Perlmutter from our side…”

“I have listened to and acknowledged the concerns that are raised by the other side and by Mr. Perlmutter from our side about this provision. It is clear that certainty has value. But certainty when certainty is unfair and when you are trying to discourage a particular act such as steering a borrower to a higher priced loan, if you don't put in the bill the ability of people to get the actual damages that they incur as a result of being steered to a higher priced loan, then you are not going to deter the activity. Many unsavory people will treat this just as a cost of doing business because the reward for steering is so high that they can incur that risk for nine transactions and get rewarded and pay the cost of the risk on the one transaction that they might get caught on. So if you really want to deter people from steering to the highest cost loan, you've got to provide an effective remedy that deters them from doing that. That's all I am trying to do.”