Relief for Jobless Mortgagors -- and Cramdowns are in Play Again

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is adding a provision to his massive regulatory reform package that would provide $3 billion in relief for unemployed homeowners. The chairman is tapping the Troubled Asset Relief Program to fund "emergency" loans and advances. Assistance would be capped at $50,000 per homeowner. As expected, House Judiciary Committee Democrats have submitted an amendment that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce or 'cram down' the principal amount of a homeowner's mortgage. The House Rules Committee decides which amendments will be considered when debate begins on The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). Meanwhile, a coalition of lender groups has succeeded in getting congressional sponsors to submit a risk retention amendment to the Rules Committee. It requires regulators to create a category of low-risk mortgages that are exempt from risk retention. H.R. 4173 currently gives the regulators the discretion to set risk retention requirements as high as 5% on most mortgages.