Meeting to order at this time and i would like to, if i may, give just a brief overview of what you can expect. We called the meeting to order that would have been an Opening Statement of the chair and Ranking Member, Opening Statements from chairwoman waters and are witnesses will give their Opening Statement and then we will have q and a of witnesses and adjournments. The title of todays hearing is protecting homeowners during the pandemic oversight of Mortgage Services implementations of the cares act. Without objection the cares authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Also without objection members of the committee who are not members of the subcommittee may participate in todays hearing for the purposes of making an Opening Statement and asking questions of witnesses. Members are reminded to keep their video function on at all times, even when they are not recognized by the chair. Members also are reminded that they are responsible for muting and on meeting themselves. I think this is something that is where they are a repeating because i made the mistake of not honoring this responsibility. I hope ins do not make that mistake today. Members are also reminded that they are responsible for muting and on meeting themselves. And to commute themselves after they finish speaking. Consistent with the regulations of comp being mean as rach 975 they will mute members and witnesses as appropriate only when they had not beckoned recognized and to avoid inadvertent background noise. Members arere minded that all house rules relating to order and decorum apply for this remote hearing. The chair now recognizes himself for four minutesth for an openig statements. Let me start by thinking the chairwoman of the full committee and its always an honor to serve under your leadership, madam chair butam i like to thak the Ranking Member for your participation that he is brought to this hearing. I would also like to thank the staff for the hard work that youve done done in obtaining some 4000 pages of servicer documents. This would include a policies features, data on the largest 11 services and their findings that include the fact that over 2 million forbearance requests have been approved by these 11 servicers. This was done between march 27 and june 30 of 2020. We have also found some other things that are causing a bit of consternation. Often servicers failed to provide the borrowers with the 108 day forbearance that has then set in the cares act. Too often borrowers were given 90 days. I have some evidence of this failure to comply that i shall show her with you. This evidence is something that emanates from a request by a constituent. One of my constituents has brought to the attention of our office this document that is styled temporary hardship forbearance plan agreement. I wont go through it in its entirety but thehe important points are these. This borrower faced a hardship and had payments deferred for three of the payments that are due, three payments. The amount due is going to be in the final analysis in the deferment time amounted to all payments within that deferment time and any late fees that may have accrued from other sources of payments not being made timely. The point is this, p as it reads on this document, the amount due on the next payment due date which was three months away from the date that the deferment time started, includes the amount of payment being deferred under the plan. This is 90 days of deferment and it is not the anticipated 180 days that thehe cares act affors borrowers. In fact, many of the borrowers are not made aware of this and we find pursuant to some of the testimony you will hear today that many of these borrowers who are accorded this 90 day time, as opposed to the 180 days, are borrowers of color. It seems that this is like many other things having a osproportionate impact on persons of color which causes me a good deal of consternation, i might add. I would also say this, this program that we established in congress has been received by the persons who are charged with according to these forbearance agreements and the servicers and it is been received by them as an honor system but we never for this to be an honor system that would allow them to decide whether or not they would do 180 days initially and the opportunities to extend for an additional 180degree peers it was my intent that borrowers would acquire the 180 days and then they could opt to have an additional 180 days. The remedy seems to be that of having to dial a lawsuit, litigation, have to hire a lawyer and take this to courts. They have to have some period of time that might go beyond the period of time, quite frankly, that you have your forbearance. Im very much concerned about this and my hope is that we could get the means by which we could deal with this honor system and bring this under the auspices of a situation such as they will have to comply as opposed to choose whether or not they will comply. With this having been said, it is my honor now to recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee for a fiveminute Opening Statement. Ranking member, you are not recognized for your fiveminute Opening Statement. Thank you, chairman green. Good to see you and all our colleagues and witnesses. Thank you again for joining us rivirtually for todays hearing. The coronavirus pandemic and associated government imposed shutdown of the economy disruptedte the lives and livelihood of citizens across our country and businesses shut down, an employment skyrocketed, workers remain employed face uncertain prospects for theirrt longterm stability. Families were at risk of losing their homes. As you all know Congress Passed in the president signed into law the cares act which helped individuals and Small Businesses and created forbearance options for struggling homeowners. At the peak approximately 4. 7 million families were in forbearance. Many more families were undoubtedly lost their homes and struggled to make payments. If not for the swift and decisive acts from congress and the administration. The implementation of the paycheck protection program, Economic Impact payments, Federal ReserveLending Facility under 133 which opened credit markets and other assistance programs under the cares act made it easier for homeowners to pay their mortgages, families to stay in their homes and Small Businesses to build a bridge for the other side of the crisis. Ee fortunately, we have seen the number of mortgages in forbearance increase since the peak declining a full 13 since may. However, we are not out of the woods yet. There areac still lands of homeowners facing hardship and requiring additionalqu assistan. I hope to learn from our Witnesses Today and what may be helpfulgr next step as congress contemplates additional legislation for the farreaching aid to america in homeowners with the collaborative effort between congress, administration, regulars and the private sector. It is important to note that while the cares act mandates that servicers are federally backed mortgages offer forbearance options to borrowers that same requirement is not in place for loans held in the portfolio or privatelabel security. Despite theel absence of this mandate services of these non federally backed loans stepped up during this crisis and similar forbearance terms would have mandated under cares. This shows that in times of crisis the government and private sector can Work Together in the private sector has acted responsibly in the interest of homeowners without having government mandates imposed on them. Unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe that a topdown mandate on all servicers will be more effective. The partisan heroes act included a mandates for automatic forbearance for all borrowers struggling to pay their mortgages and not only does this mandate appear unnecessary given the Market Dynamics we have seen to date but it actually has the potential to further disadvantage borrowers by limiting their options. On may 4, chairwoman waters and chairman greene sent letters to some of the largest Mortgage Servicers requesting information about their interaction with customers following the passage of the cares act. The location of the letter was that Mortgage Servicers skirted the response abilities under the cares act that somehow profited for steering their customers into forbearance but not in the best interest of the borrowers. The date of the majority received in response to their letter told a very different story. They demonstrated that servicers are working well with borrowers in their times of greatest need. This hearing, this is a hearing in search of a problem. That is not to say there were not some hiccups along the way but there were understandable growing pains and bumps in the road as services staffed up call centers, updated websites and implement a new technology to help their customers could however, the scope and scale of the forbearance request and the short timeframe to make new processes the servicers overall be commended on their treatment of borrowers in a time of crisis. I think the creditors the more creditors and servicers they have learnedse from experience that the expanse of foreclosure and repossessing the properties is not in anyones bestot interest. Keeping homeowners in their homes in and the best interest of all involved particularly those early americans who need help. I look forward to further explain how Services Work with their customers and efficacy of the cares act provision and keeping families in their homes and whatna additional actions my be required by congress and potential areas of improvement in the service or barware relationships and again, i think all of you for being here today and thank chairman greene again and chairwoman watersah for holding this hearing. She hast to unmute. You are still on mute, madam chair. Alright, you can hear me now. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i am so appreciative of you holding this hearing and as i took my seat i heard you read something where there appears to be a demand from a servicer that was a demand for what would be considered a full payment for the months that have been miss missed. Is that true, mr. Chairman . May i make sure i have that correct . I guess the chairman is not hearing me. Can you hear me . We can hear you but he is muted. I am unneeded now, i believe. Can you hear me . Now i can hear you but i just wanted to make sure that what i heard you saying was that someone had been remanded to pay the amount of the missed paymen three months of forbearance and would be paid upon the end of the three month time. I wanted a to make sure i got the information correct. Thank you. As a matter of fact i have to say to mr. Barr the experience we had started in 2004 with the foreclosures that took place with the Exotic Products placed on the market and with all we experienced by this disaster in our communitiesnc because of the unprecedented foreclosures leads us to understand what we must do for homeowners losing their homes and so i understand it but mr. Chairman, i want to thank you for the hearing and i am absolutely committed to the proposition that this will not happen. We will have a credible forbearance situation where our homeowners will not cause them to lose their homes. I yield back the balance of my time. The chairwoman yields back. At this time i would like to introduce our witnesses and thank them for coming and being a part of this hearing. We have with us today elise cohen, staff attorney for the National Consumer law center. Marcio griffin, president of home free usa. Darnell williams, president of National Association of Real Estate Brokers. Ed demarco, president of the policy council but welcome again and thank you for being with us virtually. The witnesses will be recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation if we would be a chime will go off at the end of your time and i will ask that you respect the members as other witnesses time by wrapping up your oral testimony. Without objection the witnesses written statements will be made a part of the record. Avce the witnesses finish their testimony each member will have five minutes to ask questions. With that, miss you are not recognized for five minutes for your Opening Statement. Thank you very much, chairman greene, Ranking Member and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I testify on behalf of the low income compliance of the National Consumer law center as well as 20 other Consumer Legal Services and civil rights organizations. The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic has brought illness, death, on appointments and greater economic and security to people across the country. Communities of color, particularly black and people have been hard hit. The qualities are activated by the Current Crisis and black and latin x homeownership is in peril. To mitigate some of the horror wrought by the Pandemic Congress must continue its vigilance in protecting homeowners, improve transparency for housing relief programs, increase its efforts to regulate and reform the Mortgage Servicing industry and send relief for black and latin x homeowners. The federal regulators must act as well to prevent avoidable foreclosures and promote sustainable homeownership. Congress must pursue dedicated efforts to protect and expand black and latin x homeownership and pass additional measures, including election of loans level borrower, Loan Performance and loss mitigation data with public reporting and representative porters bill hr 6835 is a good start on this. Expansion of cares act protection must include, standardize forbearance for all mortgages, automatic forbearance for borrowers who have missed two payments or more, affordable repayment options for borrowers exiting forbearance plans, seeking to resolve delinquencies that are available prior to foreclosure and written notice and in language information for limited borrowers in a moratorium on negative credit reporting and targeted support are the hardest hit communities including funding for legal services, housing counseling and cash assistance for delinquent borrowers and measures to preventsu neighborhood flight. Moreover, federal regulators must increase oversight ensure mortgage assistance meets the needs of Diverse Communities of homeowners to prove regulation, including rules that leave homeowners at risk and consider future reforms in a Mortgage Servicing industry to rely on incentives with those homeowners and investors. We commend the regulatory extension of the foreclosure moratoria and the recent announcement to t advance loss mitigation options in close forbearance options. And more is needed. Black and latin x homeowners are more than likely now to struggle paying the mortgage because assistance from their servicer ild missed payments instead of forbearance. While all homeowners are more likely to report missing payments rather thanra deferring payments and the census bureaus household poll survey at the end of june 4 times as many black homeowners reported missing payments as compared to deferring payments. Among hispanic or latino homeowners and homeowners who identify asd other were reported two or more races were two times as many homeowners reporting they missed payments compared to deferring. Only 1. 4 times as many white homeowners report missing rather than deferring payments. How can we helpep homeowners who not yet received assistance and what can we donc with a disproportionately large group of borrowers of color facing this challenge . While we focus on efforts to contain the fallout from the pandemic we should not lose sight of the fact that for many distressed borrowers the Mortgage Servicing industry remains fundamentally broken and our ability to prevent another great loss of homeownership with black and latin x families dependo on our ability to have Service Received that performing servicing well is within their interest as well as the interest of financially distressed homeowners and their communities and the economy. Our nation is facing unprecedented challenges that present us with the real challenge to looklo at our priorities and assumptions and make material progress in how we measure success and inclusion. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony ms. Cohen. Ms. Griffin youre not wrecking eyes for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Thank you very t much. My name is Marcio Griffin and im president and founder of home free usa, nationwide housing Counseling Organization and i appreciate this opportunity to appear before you to provides insight surrounding the plight of homeowners in this pandemic. Allow me to emphasize the importance of housingng counselg organizations which i would like to call nonprofit homeownership providers. Housing Counseling Organizations like homeport usa our Mission Based entities created to provide everyday people with the tools they need to achieve and sustain their housing and homeownership goals. We help renters to become sustainable homeowners and help existing homeowners avoid Mortgage Delinquency and foreclosure. Its somewhatn like marriage counselors but when a homeowner has unanswe