Finance and Economic

Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said Friday that Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s plan to deal with the nation’s mortgage crisis could pay dividends here.

Thurmond and Laura Tyson, former chair of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters in a conference call that Clinton’s plan would help in Georgia, where the rate of delinquent mortgages was third-highest in the country earlier this year.

Thurmond, who has endorsed Clinton, said the U.S. senator from New York, “has the vision to not only meet the challenge but develop plans and strategies that ultimately will have a very positive impact.”

Clinton’s plan includes:

• A moratorium on foreclosures in the sub-prime market.

“We have such large numbers [of foreclosures], it’s unprecedented,” said Tyson, an economic adviser to Clinton’s campaign.

• A five-year freeze on adjustable rate mortgages.

• And creation of a $5 billion federal fund to help state and local communities deal with the crisis fallout.

“Senator Clinton really saw this problem first, and she has been consistently suggesting solutions,” Tyson said.

All of the candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination have addressed the mortgage situation.

Former U.S fast payday loan no faxing. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has railed against what he calls predatory lenders since before the crisis began in early 2007. Edwards has called for national legislation to ban what he says are the worst abuses in the mortgage market: loan-flipping, mandatory arbitration clauses, balloon loans and pre-payment penalties. He would allow predatory lending victims to get new terms for mortgages.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has proposed the Stop Fraud Act that increases funding for law enforcement to combat mortgage fraud and create criminal penalties for it. He wants to create a fund to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
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