[Occupymendocino] The heart of the crisis

[Mark Safron]

Though most of members of Congress are on the campaign trail, Wall Street lobbyists aren’t taking a break.

The Big Banks want to defang a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that would prevent them from pushing unaffordable home loans on unsuspecting families. The banks are demanding an absolute get out of jail free card — total immunity — even if they make unaffordable loans.

Aggressive sales of unaffordable loans containing hidden fees, tricks and traps were at the heart of the financial crisis and the foreclosure disaster.

Don’t let them get away with it.

Urge your senators to oppose legal immunity for banks that make unaffordable loans.

To prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, Dodd-Frank requires that banks make sure borrowers are able to pay back their loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is currently working on putting this commonsense requirement in place.

The Big Banks are pushing back.

They’ve recruited Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to attach get-out-of-jail-free language for the banks to a non-controversial piece of legislation, the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act (S. 3522), a bill which will make it easier for consumers to refinance at current low-interest rates.

The Corker amendment, if allowed to pass, would grant the banks legal immunity, even when they push predatory loans they know that consumers won’t be able to pay back.

Our senators should know by now that letting the Big Banks do whatever they want is a recipe for disaster.

Make sure your senators know that you know about the reckless Corker amendment, and tell them to oppose it.

		Thanks for all you do,

Rick Claypool
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
action at citizen.org


P.S. Do one more easy thing before you move to the next message in your inbox. Forward this email to five friends, family members, neighbors or colleagues. They’ll appreciate knowing what matters to you. And your voice will be amplified by every person who joins you in taking action.

Visit our Financial Reform page to learn more about Public Citizen's work to hold big banks accountable. Go to http://action.citizen.org/unsubscribe.jsp if you do not want to receive future emails from Public Citizen.

© 2012 Public Citizen • 1600 20th Street, NW / Washington, D.C. 20009 • www.citizen.org




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