Housing Cram Down Bill : House vote pushed to next week...

From HousingWire:

The bill had potentially been slated for possible vote today, but various media reports as well as sources that spoke with HousingWire have suggested that negotiations over the hot-button issue are yet continuing. Read the full legislation.

“To allow time for more discussion, I expect to complete consideration and vote on the bill likely Tuesday of next week,” House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told MarketWatch Thursday.

Some of those discussions include linking any bankruptcy cramdowns to the Obama administration’s newly-announced mortgage modification plan, as well as potentially limiting cramdown authority (at least initially) to subprime mortgages only. Marketwatch reported Thursday afternoon that a group of 67 centrist House Democrats are pushing for an explicit loan modification-cramdown link, meaning that no mortgage could see its principal balance reduced by a bankruptcy judge unless the borrower had first sought out relief under the terms of the administration’s loan modification guidelines. See earlier coverage of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the lead sponsor of the cramdown legislation, suggested to American Banker on Tuesday that Democrats might be willing to limit cramdown authority to just subprime mortgages, in an effort to quell industry unrest and long-standing opposition to the proposal. Subprime loans are not available for modification under the administration’s HASP.

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