Frank Warns MBA of 'Onerous' Regulation

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is pushing for a package that gives the industry incentives to clean up the foreclosure glut, but he told the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference in Boston that if the package fails to achieve its aim, mortgage market participants may see much more onerous regulation. The package includes a proposal that would allow loan holders who voluntarily write down the principal amount of loans that borrowers cannot "reasonably" repay to refinance the mortgage into a written-down loan with a Federal Housing Administration guarantee. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., also said he would be holding a hearing later in May that would shed light on why the temporary loan limit increase has not produced more results.