Media Advisory: Chairman Kucinich To Hold Subcommittee Hearing on Subprime Mortgage Issues Plaguing Urban America

Ohio Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich's congressional website http://kucinich.house.gov/ posted the following press release.

Media Advisory: Chairman Kucinich To Hold Subcommittee Hearing on Subprime Mortgage Issues Plaguing Urban America
“Foreclosure, Predatory Mortgage and Payday Lending in America’s Cities”

Washington, Mar 16 - The Domestic Policy Subcommittee hearing will take an in-depth look at predatory mortgage, payday lending and foreclosures that plague inner-city America. This will be the first in a series of hearings Kucinich plans to hold looking at various issues afflicting urban America.

The riskiest segment of the U.S. mortgage market, which serves borrowers with poor credit histories at high interest rates, has seen rising default rates in recent months amid falling prices and slower sales in the housing market. On Tuesday, March 13, the Dow experienced its second largest single day decline in four years and $406 billion in wealth was destroyed because of the subprime market. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported new foreclosures surged to an all-time high in the last quarter of 2006.

Kucinich hopes to bring responsibility and accountability to creditors and regulators through this hearing.

Witnesses for the hearing include:

Panel One
Mr. James Rokakis
Cuyahoga County Treasurer, Cleveland, OH

Ms. Inez Kellingsworth
President
East Side Organizing Project, Cleveland, OH

Mr. Bill Rinehart
Vice President
Ocwen Financial Corporation, West Palm Beach, FL

Mr. Josh Nasser
Center for Responsible Lending, Washington, D.C.

Professor Dan Immergluck
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Mr. Roy DeLoach
Executive Vice President
National Association of Mortgage Brokers, McLean, VA

Panel Two
Ms. Rita L. Haynes
CEO
Faith Community United Credit Union, Cleveland, OH

Mr. Ed Jacob
CEO
Northside Community Federal Credit Union, Chicago, IL

Mr. David Rothstein
Policy Matters Ohio, Cleveland, OH

Ms. Fran Grossman
ShoreBank Corporation, Chicago, IL

Ms. Jean Ann Fox
Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C.

Panel Three
Mr. Calvin Bradford
National Training & Information Center, Chicago, IL

Mr. Thomas FitzGibbon
MB Financial Bank, Rosemount, IL

Professor Michael T. Maloney
Department of Economics, Clemson, SC

Mr. Jim McCarthy
President
Miami Fair Housing, Dayton, OH