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Durbin Wants Banks Who Received Bailouts to Help Mortgage Holders
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he's disgusted with banks that took bailouts but won't bail out mortgage holders who are in trouble.

Durbin voted for last year's bank bailout bill, but he says now he's "bitterly disappointed," starting with the fact that some of the banks -- which presumably would have failed without assistance from taxpayers -- gave millions in bonuses to the executives who made the decisions that brought the banks to the brink of failure.

But then when politicians asked banks to offer refinancing to hard-pressed homeowners who couldn't afford their mortgages -- some of whom had been deceived regarding the terms -- the banks said no, because the homeowners owe more than their homes are worth in this depressed real estate market, so a loan would be considered risky.

Durbin says he was told in October that the country's biggest banks would collapse within a week if Congress failed to approve the bailout, and without the banks, commercial and consumer lending would grind to a halt. Durbin says that seems to be happening even with the bailouts.

Durbin points out that lenders often lose more on a foreclosure than they would on a short sale, but the bailout recipients still won't help.

Foreclosures nationally numbered 2,000,000 last year, and are projected to reach 8,000,000 this year.

(Illinois Radio Network)
05 10 09 by Newsroom
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