The FDIC recently released a study that finds that 60 million Americans, a quarter of all U.S. households, are either “unbanked or underbanked.” Unbanked is defined as lacking a checking or savings account, while underbanked means relying heavily on alternative means of finance such as payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, and pawn shops. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-fdic-study-shows-one-in-four-us-households-currently-unbanked-or-underbanked-state-by-state-data-available-78311312.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR2009120201016.html?hpid=topnews As [...]
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Tag Archives: Subprime lending
Brownsville CDC director discusses recent changes in border low-income housing and colonias
June 26, 2009
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Homebuyers buying new houses through a CDC in Brownsville, Texas have an average income of $19,000. Low-income border families, who a decade ago would have bought lots and built homes through their own labor in a colonia, have lately been buying homes from many of the former colonia developers. Lately, these former colonia developers have [...]
Read moreDoggett/Henneberger diavolg on consumer protection legislation for mortgage borrowers in the Texas Legislature
June 24, 2009
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Robert Doggett worked on behalf of TxLIHIS during the past session of the Texas Legislature, One of his main focus areas was trying to gain some reasonable protections for consumers facing mortgage foreclosure. In my first experiment with a diavolg I asked Doggett about what was proposed in the legislative session to deal with consumer [...]
Read moreThe truly critical issue the Legislature failed to act on
June 2, 2009
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My colleague Robert Doggett pointed out to me yesterday just how pathetic the Texas Legislature’s efforts to deal with the home foreclosure crisis was this session. The Texas Legislature failed to take any action to deal with the foreclosure crisis or the predatory lending practices which fueled the crisis we find ourselves in. One reason [...]
Read moreAnother voice against the attack on the Community Reinvestment Act
October 7, 2008
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On October 3 Bill Moyers interviewed Emma Coleman Jordan about the mortgage meltdown and the latest cries that the Community Reinvestment Act is to blame. Coleman adds her voice to those of us who reject this nonsense. Coleman teaches commercial law and economic justice at Georgetown University. She’s a former White House Fellow and assistant [...]
Read moreThe big lie about the role of affordable lending goals in the collapse of Fannie Mae
October 6, 2008
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The Big Lie: Fannie Mae collapsed because of Congressional affordable housing goals and this, in turn, was the cause of the Wall Street collapse that resulted in the $700 billion federal bailout. The Big Lie has been spreading very rapidly through several sources: an oversimplification of the story by the mainstream media (see, for example, [...]
Read moreShifting the blame from subprime lenders and Wall Street to the victims
October 3, 2008
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It’s to be expected. Anti-government pundits and apologists for predatory lenders are spinning hard, trying to shift the blame for the mortgage crisis from bad lending policies brought about by Wall Street in cahoots with predatory lenders and onto the modest attempts by the government to deal with discriminatory home loan practices. This argument was [...]
Read moreThe foreclosure resistant low income mortgage loan
September 21, 2008
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The $700 billion bailout of Wall Street brought about by the subprime/ predatory mortgage debacle points out that there needs to be a better, safer and cheaper alternative mortgage for lower income families buying a home. Such a loan needs to be affordable and needs to be able to be adjusted based on the borrower’s [...]
Read moreWho says home equity loans are a good idea?
August 19, 2008
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Who says home equity loans (second mortgages) are a good idea? Primarily the banks who pushed home equity loans into the mainstream with a ferocious advertising campaign over the past 20 years. At least that is the case according to a feature article in the New York Times titled Home Equity Frenzy Was a Bank [...]
Read moreThe Texas mortgage industry needs to take a hard look in the mirror
July 9, 2008
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After reading Richard Bitner’s new book, Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider’s Tale of Geed, Fraud and Ignorance I regret ever saying anything good about subprime lending. I used to parrot the party line that it was not subprime lending per se we object to, it was predatory lending. According Bitner I was dead [...]
Read moreTexas Teachers Retirement Fund speculates in subprime mortgage backed securities
June 24, 2008
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Demonstrating poor judgment the Texas Teacher’s Retirement Fund announced it is planning to invest $250 million of retirement funds of Texas school teachers in a loan fund based on subprime mortgages and other low-grade home loans. The story is reported in Foreclosure Buzz from a story originally written by Bob Elder in the Austin American [...]
Read moreAn important role for state legislatures in the foreclosure crisis
June 16, 2008
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Financial Institutions Committee Chairman Burt Solomon is reasonable and fair in approaching the issue of state regulation of financial institutions. His comments introducing last week’s hearing on the foreclosure crisis in Texas reflect the careful and conservative approach that many Southern states have taken toward defining the state’s role in addressing the crisis. Listen to [...]
Read moreOne perspective on the Texas foreclosure crisis
June 15, 2008
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View Dr. James Gaines presentation [it takes a couple minutes to begin playing] before the Texas House financial institutions committee on Texas home foreclosure data. View the slides from his PowerPoint presentation. Dr. James Gaines a research economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center presented some interesting data in to the Texas House Financial Institutions [...]
Read moreDealing (or not) with the foreclosure crisis in Texas
June 14, 2008
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Watch Robert Doggett’s testimony before the Financial Services Committee, or better yet watch the entire hearing. On Wednesday Robert Doggett, in response to an invitation from the committee, testified on the behalf of TxLIHIS before the Texas House of Representatives Financial Institutions Committee. The committee was conducting an interim hearing on an interim charge to: [...]
Read moreUnderstanding the role of GSEs, HUD and affordable housing in the subprime crisis
June 12, 2008
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A page 1 story in the Washingtom Post Tuesday laid a major part of the blame for the subprime lending meltdown at the feet of HUD for failing to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from buying large numbers of subpime mortgage backed securities comprised of loans made in minority and low income neighborhoods. [...]
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Bo McCarver’s housing news clips for May
- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
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Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
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Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
