CRL: Worst Not Over for B&C Foreclosures

The Center for Responsible Lending says the worst of the subprime foreclosure wave is not over and that its research shows that well over one million borrowers (possibly up to 1.5 million) will lose their homes over the next few years."A closer look shows that subprime loans originated in 2005 and 2006 alone will account for over a million projected foreclosures," CRL president Michael Calhoun said. In a recent speech, Mortgage Bankers Association chairman John Robbins took issue with the CRL's research and said it showed that there have been 1.6 million subprime foreclosures since 1998 and that the CRL is projecting another 600,000 foreclosures in the near future. "It's still a lot of people, but out of 75 million homeowners and 50 million mortgage holders, it's not an eyebrow-raising number when looked at over that period of years," Mr. Robbins said in a speech at the National Press Club. The MBA apparently misread the CRL's data and "reversed our estimate" of the number of foreclosures that have occurred and future foreclosures, Mr. Calhoun said. "Mr. Robbins suggested that the worst is over for subprime foreclosures," he said. "That is simply not the case."