| Pub Date: 7/8/2008 10:32:24 AM | | | The proposed emergency housing bill intended to help as many as 50,000 homeowners on the brink of foreclosure to renegotiate their mortgages has been delayed and may be weeks away from passage. Congressional leaders had predicted it would be approved by July 4th, but it has been slowed by an unexpected veto threat from the White House, legislative maneuvering in the Senate and differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. Another situation that is delaying approval is the investigation into a loan by Countrywide Financial Corp., to one of the mortgage bill’s authors, Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, which allowed him to save $75,000 in mortgage payments on two homes. There is also concern that homeowners with foreclosed properties wouldn’t benefit from the bill since the banks would own the properties and that the mortgage lenders would receive the greatest benefit from this bill. Meanwhile the nation's foreclosure rate continues to skyrocket: According to RealtyTrac, in May, 261,255 homes went into foreclosure, up 7 percent from the month before and up 48 percent from May 2007. | |  | | Subscribe to this blog |
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