This article from investors business daily shows that bad government policy just gets repeated. Eric Holder is going after banks again, and trying to force them into making the same bad loans that crashed the economy the first time. Here is the article:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAna...Launches-Witch-Hunt-Against-Biased-Banks.aspx
From the article:
Such efforts risk recreating the government-imposed lax underwriting that led to the housing boom and bust, critics fear.
"It's absolutely outrageous after what we've just gone through," said former Rep. Ernest Istook, a Heritage Foundation fellow. "How can someone both be financially stable enough to merit a mortgage at the same time they're on public assistance? By definition, you don't have the kind of employment that can support such a loan."
In what could be a repeat of the easy-lending cycle that led to the housing crisis, the Justice Department has asked several banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, according to court documents reviewed by IBD.
Prosecutions have already generated more than $20 million in loan set-asides and other subsidies from banks that have settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist. An additional 60 banks are under investigation, a DOJ spokeswoman says.
No Job, No Problem
Settlements include setting aside prime-rate mortgages for low-income blacks and Hispanics with blemished credit and even counting "public assistance" as valid income in mortgage applications.
In several cases, the government has ordered bank defendants to post in all their branches and marketing materials a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for credit because they receive public aid, such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps.
Among other remedies: favorable interest rates and down-payment assistance for minority borrowers with weak credit.
For example, the government has ordered Midwest BankCentre to set aside almost $1 million in "special financing" for residents living in predominantly black areas of St. Louis. The program includes originating conventional home loans at fixed prime rates for African-American borrowers "who would ordinarily not qualify for such rates for reasons including the lack of required credit quality, income or down payment."
The same federal order, signed last month, praises Midwest for adopting "less stringent underwriting criteria" while under investigation
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IT SEEMS TO ME THAT LOANING MONEY TO PEOPLE WITH NO INCOME LED TO THE FIRST MELTDOWN. I GUESS THE FIRST MELTDOWN HAS BEEN SO MUCH FUN THEY WOULD LIKE TO DO IT AGAIN.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAna...Launches-Witch-Hunt-Against-Biased-Banks.aspx
From the article:
Such efforts risk recreating the government-imposed lax underwriting that led to the housing boom and bust, critics fear.
"It's absolutely outrageous after what we've just gone through," said former Rep. Ernest Istook, a Heritage Foundation fellow. "How can someone both be financially stable enough to merit a mortgage at the same time they're on public assistance? By definition, you don't have the kind of employment that can support such a loan."
In what could be a repeat of the easy-lending cycle that led to the housing crisis, the Justice Department has asked several banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, according to court documents reviewed by IBD.
Prosecutions have already generated more than $20 million in loan set-asides and other subsidies from banks that have settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist. An additional 60 banks are under investigation, a DOJ spokeswoman says.
No Job, No Problem
Settlements include setting aside prime-rate mortgages for low-income blacks and Hispanics with blemished credit and even counting "public assistance" as valid income in mortgage applications.
In several cases, the government has ordered bank defendants to post in all their branches and marketing materials a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for credit because they receive public aid, such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps.
Among other remedies: favorable interest rates and down-payment assistance for minority borrowers with weak credit.
For example, the government has ordered Midwest BankCentre to set aside almost $1 million in "special financing" for residents living in predominantly black areas of St. Louis. The program includes originating conventional home loans at fixed prime rates for African-American borrowers "who would ordinarily not qualify for such rates for reasons including the lack of required credit quality, income or down payment."
The same federal order, signed last month, praises Midwest for adopting "less stringent underwriting criteria" while under investigation
.........................................................
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT LOANING MONEY TO PEOPLE WITH NO INCOME LED TO THE FIRST MELTDOWN. I GUESS THE FIRST MELTDOWN HAS BEEN SO MUCH FUN THEY WOULD LIKE TO DO IT AGAIN.
