Clinton Calls for B&C Foreclosure Moratorium

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is urging the Bush administration to impose a 90-day moratorium on subprime foreclosures so that at-risk borrowers are not harmed before lenders and servicers are able to implement a freeze on interest rates.The presidential candidate said she is "encouraged" by news that Treasury officials are working with the mortgage industry to curb foreclosures and freeze interest rates on adjustable-rate subprime mortgages. A freeze of at least five years or until the mortgage is converted to an affordable fixed-rate mortgage will "give the housing market time to stabilize," Sen. Clinton says in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. In March, Sen. Clinton called for "foreclosure timeout," which the Bush administration dismissed as unnecessary. "While you and others in the administration misdiagnosed the problem, over 1 million additional foreclosure notices were sent out," the New York Democrat said.