The one provision directly affecting our industry is much different than the “industry infamous” McCaskill amendment which failed to be picked up in the Dodd-Frank Act. The name of the Act as it appears in the reconciled Act is the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” which many are now shortening to the “Dodd-Frank Act.”

The reverse mortgage provision was sponsored by Representative Dina Titus (D-NV). Peter Bell did a superb job in explaining why NRMLA believes this provision is the about the best we could have expected. It requires a study rather than mandating a regimen of new regulations, and the study is to be performed under the oversight of the Fed which is considered by many to be among the best in providing regulation but avoiding overregulation. So while less than perfect, it is better than it might otherwise have been expected.

As with most major bills where compromise was rampant, the Act is full of “divide and conquer.” For example, most state chartered mortgage bankers and brokers like Section 4404 which removes automatic preemption of certain nationally chartered financial institutions from compliance with certain state consumer laws. Of course those who lose the benefit of such preemption are not as pleased.

Even though the MBA took the high ground, there are many provisions where their membership is greatly divided. NRMLA is wise not to take a generalized position on the bill. There seems to be general agreement that this bill needs a lot of work through amendments and in fact there may need to be more than one technical corrections bill. A general repeal of this Act is extremely doubtful. As Atare Abgamu has previously stated, after the failure in the mortgage industry what could we expect?

My colleagues,rnrnIn my opinion I feel this bill will be the ruination of our financial system as we once knew it. I see small community banks failing and merging into larger banks. Small businesses will find it very difficult to stay afloat. I see our capitalistic society that is failing as it is, becoming completely socialistic.rnrnThe consumer protection bureau will be disastrous to the reverse mortgage industry and lending as a whole. We will all be at the mercy of bureaucrats that will have only their political agenda on their minds, not that of the American people.rnrnNRMLA may be wise not to take a position on this bill, however, I will not take that approach, I will speak out, loud and clear! I tell all of you that this bill will haunt us for the rest of our lives unless it is repealed or revoked. We MUST start all over again with a new bill. We can not afford to amend this bill to death like every other bill seems to go through. When are we going to say, enough is enough folks!rnrnI am not saying we don’t need financial reform, we do. What we need is a bill that makes sense and will protect the American people with out giving the federal government all the power this bill gives them. The power this bill gives the federal government has the power to rule our entire financial security and our lives.rnrnI know I may sound radical but I do not feel I am. Their is a lot in the 2,346 pages of this bill that is very ambiguous. It is a dangerous bill the way it is written.rnrnHave a good weekend,rnrnJohn A. Smaldone