WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A key member of Congress and a federal regulator encouraged financial institutions to suspend home foreclosures, as Washington’s debate continued Wednesday about how to save an economy weakened by a moribund housing market.
“I would ask all of you now to please make sure that we have a moratorium in effect,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., at a hearing where the CEOs of eight major banks testified about how they were using money from a $700 billion bank bailout fund.
At the hearing, Frank pressed bankers to voluntarily set up a moratorium on foreclosures until the Treasury department has put in place a plan to alter mortgages that will help troubled homeowners avoid defaulting on their loans.
“It would be until we get that program up and running and until you know if people can qualify,” Frank said.
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