Last Congress, Schakowsky authored H.R. 3901, anti-predatory lending legislation.  Schakowsky is preparing to reintroduce this measure again this Congress.  The “Save Our Homes Act of 2001” will attack predatory practices in the mortgage industry such as high interest rates, single premium insurance products, loan flipping and churning, unilateral call provisions, and loans made without regard to the borrower’s ability to pay.  

Below is Schakowsky’s statement from today’s news conference.

“I am eager to join Representative John LaFalce and my other colleagues in urging the House Financial Services Committee to finally address the needs of consumers.  It’s been a long time coming.  Last session, Congress worked very hard to give banks the power to compete in the global marketplace.  Now it’s time for us to give something to consumers. And there’s plenty to give.

“Consumers are demanding affordable banking services.  They are insisting that their finances remain their personal private information.  And they need protection from aggressive financial predators.  I have been working with Representative LaFalce since I got to his committee to give consumers what they deserve and I am happy to join him today to continue that fight.

“And it is a fight.  Our Republican colleagues would rather cater to wealthy interests by passing tax cuts for the rich and bankruptcy laws for credit card companies.  But consumers want us to get these aggressive, sometimes predatory, companies out of their wallets.  They write to me and say, “it is outrageous that Congress has failed to protect consumer privacy.” They think that credit card solicitations are “close to a scam.”  I have a letter writer who tells me that “the predators in the lending business should suffer 30 years in jail just as their crimes sentence their victims to 30 years of interest and principal payments [for predatory home loans].”  It is way past time that we give something to consumers.
 
“I introduced several pieces of legislation last year that would protect consumer privacy, attack high fees and stop predatory lending.  And I plan on reintroducing my anti-predatory lending bill, Save Our Homes Act of 2001, very soon.   I applaud Congressman LaFalce for his leadership. I hope that together, we can finally address these concerns.  It’s way past time that our Republican colleagues joined this effort.”