sad, but true.. Harry doesn’t appear to have a clue
The changes in the mortgage industry have been coming at a break neck pace. Unfortunately, some of the people that vote on the bills don’t appear to have time to pay attention. When my friend Gary Miljour wrote to our Congressman Harry Mitchell asking about Down Payment Assistance loans, such as “Ameridream,” did he really say;
“Unfortunately, some companies that provide down payment assistance were helping lenders to make predatory loans in the height of the housing boom. The down payment assistance provided by some organizations allowed sub-prime lenders to persuade home buyers to assume more debt than they could otherwise afford. As a result, both the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued rules to prevent this kind of coercion.” (emphasis mine)
I found this language on the Ameridream web site. (Update: 2019 – the Ameridream website no longer exists) “Those programs, operated by charitable organizations in accordance with current law and HUD guidelines, have helped more than one million FHA qualified, low and moderate income families and individuals buy their own homes since 2000.” The emphasis on “HUD guidelines” and “FHA qualified” is mine.
Who exactly runs HUD? Who determines FHA guidelines? Are these considered sub prime lenders? hhmmm.
2 Comments
Nick,
Thanks for sharing this with our citizens of Tempe, Arizona. It is a very sad day when the wrong group of people get thrown under the bus by politicians that do not even understand the language of a bill they voted for. Mr. Mitchell and many other politicians will have a hard road ahead of them for re-election if they feed the wrong people to the wolves. You did a great job to articulate the point that down payment assistance was a great program. Great Post.
Gary, thanks so much for stopping by and for writing the article letting me know of Harry’s response. See ya around!