The Banking Lobby Making Foreclosure Solution Difficult

May 13th, 2009 | Tags: Bank Foreclosures

The banking lobby consisting of the bankers and their yes-men are making foreclosure solutions difficult. Their openly brazen stand has made them political untouchables in the halls of power. In the House they have shrunk out of proportion the bankruptcy clause in the bill, helped a government deal with Chrysler and tried their best to block credit card changes for the better.

The group with such clout is the wonderful set of bankers in America who brought about this financial crisis and is still being given the red carpet treatment by those that matter in the Congress. Senator Dick Durbin opines that these banks “are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Although the banks are the losers having suffered immense losses, the spoils are still going to the vanquished. The banks still do the dictating as if they are the owners of the place although a couple of days ago they went around with the begging bowl asking the government to save them from the consequences of their mistakes. It is strange that the banks continue to be given rewards despite their innumerable failures.

The banks won a twisted victory when on 30th April 2009 the Senate said no to an amendment that would have empowered judges to alter loan terms for certain categories of buyers. It would have assisted 1.7 million borrowers to continue to stay in their homes and helped to preserve extra $300 billion on equity.

Considering the tsunami like proportions of the present foreclosure crisis it does not seem to have been an intelligent piece of action by the people in power. In the first quarter of this year, 2009, 800,000 foreclosures have been noted. In March alone the number was 341,000.

But the bankers were up in arms despite dilution of terms. No concessions softened the hearts of the banking lobby – its icon being Mortgage Bankers Association. Others in line are Financial Services Roundtable and American Bankers Association. A video footage caught them indulging in self congratulation. Their greatest victory was persuading 12 Democrats to side with them apart from each and every one of the Republicans. Ryan Grim for HuffPost has reported that these Democrats who had sided with the bankers had all received funds from the banks for their campaigning expenses.

The banking lobby swaggered in their clout as the shocking news trickled through that Chrysler would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.