Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Logic behind political effort of This Egyptian Thing

There have been many visitors to this page but very few takers. I know many have tried to contact their representatives for help only to be told their hands are tied. If I may, on the subject of targets for This Egyptian Thing: unless a member of the Senate or House are on a relevant committee, they have no say in a specific policy until it is brought to the floor for a vote. Contacting “your” Senator or Congressman will do little unless they are on that committee or a ranking member of the leadership team for their party. Contacting State governments will do little since HAMP is a Federal Policy. The only impact a State government can have is through the banking dept, and possibly Judicial, which could place some restriction on the foreclosure process like State Court Mediation. The States do not have the money to do anything, especially the hardest- hit states. Our efforts can filter down to the State level only after we get change from Congress/Treasury. The Governors at that time can be helpful. There is a time right before the National Governors Association meeting where our efforts can be placed, but that would only be to have them support our single message.

There are many things that need to be changed but we need to focus and request change in an area that can be changed. The government does not have authority over all banks and it is politically difficult to get the servicers to be forced to follow the guidelines. Our single message to take sole underwriting authority out of the servicers' hands, to perform a check on their work product with the use of a neutral third party, is selected because it can be done. The authority does exist in Congress - without overreaching - by mandating fines, which could cause the servicing industry to say "try it." Laws will have to be passed, which will be difficult in a Republican House. The GSE’s are taxpayer money, therefore Congress is responsible for their losses. Treasury “Escalation” is already part of HAMP and the servicers have already signed onto it. Court Mediation ordered by the courts is just that – a court order. These are obtainable goals and all possible with our single message, but we need numbers and a workable strategy, we have the latter. After two years, I know the landscape.

To do nothing will assure greater problems for everyone.

Send an email to sgillan@optonline.net with "We Need Change Now" in the subject line. I will reply with the full strategy.

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