Mr. Miller,
Funny, I have the same mistrust of static barriers. The great wall of China took hundreds of years to complete and only a realtive few for the mongols to surmount. The "Maginot Line" in France was seemingly impenetrable. My point is, that legislators will spend at best, weeks of working hours on legislation that crooks can then spend the following years figuring out how to subvert. Make the problems and barriers more dynamic for the predators, and their progress will be slowed. Give the public the knowlege to discern bad from good in lenders and the food chain for predatory lenders shrinks. People like me can then step in to take loans away from the predators, eventually starving them out.
Please understand, the "predators" as you classify them are crooks, not lenders. They lie on apps, falsify appraisals, and manufacture whatever documentation is necessary to close the loan. They already ignore the federal fraud statutes, what makes you think they would respect a silly set of laws administered by an organization as toothless as HUD?
Another point which I failed to bring up earlier is the fact that in many states,consumer oriented home improvement contracts originated by the builder are specifically exempt from virtually all conventional mortgage regulation. I mean to tell you that a lot of these tragic foreclosure stories began with a home improvement contract that was eventually assigned off to a major lender. Although we are held accountable for them, we have no participation in their origination. Sometimes life sucks.
HUD and the media would be well served recognizing the same trend that many predators have known for years. The American urban populous no longer cares to read. Information is disseminated audio or visually. No one in the media, consumer groups, or HUD has effectively harnessed either medium. Anyone heard of the FANNIE MAE Foundation prior to their television commercials? The predators have been much more effective at getting the word out about the availability of funds than the other side has been about the true cost of those funds. Not for a lack of funds, but for a lack of ideas.
Along the lines of association restraints, I had the creation of an autonomous "Self Regulating Organization" in mind. This would operate similarly to the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) does today. I am aware of no sucessful brokerage house that is not a member of the NASD. Expulsion is tantamount to closure of the company. Part of membership is close adherance to a codified standard of practice and ethics, which are over and above any current set of laws.
We seem to share many goals, we just have chosen different paths. I do thank you immensely for this exchange though. I have learned a great deal from your remarks and will peek in every once in a while to see what you are taking on at the moment. Thanks for taking the time to write back so promptly.
Respectfully,
Frank Houttekier