I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6069 

To ensure adequate funding for foreclosure mitigation counseling activities 

of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in connection with the 

Home Affordable Modification Program of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2010 

Mr. SARBANES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To ensure adequate funding for foreclosure mitigation counseling activities of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in connection with the Home Affordable Modification Program of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making Home Afford5 able Improvements Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ALLOCATION OF MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE 

2 FUNDING FOR FORECLOSURE MITIGATION 

3 COUNSELING IN CONNECTION WITH HOME 

4 AFFORDABLE MODIFICATION PROGRAM AND 

5 HOME AFFORDABLE FORECLOSURE ALTER6 NATIVES PROGRAM. 

7 (a) FUNDING FOR FORECLOSURE MITIGATION COUN8 SELING.—From any amounts made available for carrying 

9 out the Making Home Affordable initiative of the Sec10 retary of the Treasury pursuant to title I of the Emer11 gency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 

12 5211 et seq.), the Secretary shall provide assistance, in 

13 the amounts provided under subsection (c), to the Na14 tional Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program for 

15 foreclosure mitigation counseling activities in connection 

16 with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) 

17 of such initiative. 

18 (b) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Foreclosure 

20 Mitigation Counseling Program shall distribute 

21 amounts received pursuant to subsection (a) to 

22 grantees in good standing in accordance with guide23 lines, policies, and procedures of the Program. 

24 (2) HOUSING COUNSELING AGENCY ELIGI25 BILITY.—For a housing counseling agency to be eli26 gible to receive assistance from amounts received 


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1 pursuant to subsection (a), the agency must be a re2 cipient of funding from the National Foreclosure 

3 Mitigation Counseling Program. 

4 (c) FORMULA FOR FUNDING.—The amount provided 

5 under this subsection shall be an amount, for each mort6 gage modified under the Home Affordable Modification 

7 Program, as follows: 

8 (1) TRIAL MODIFICATIONS.—For each mort9 gage for which a servicer or lender has entered into 

10 a trial modification under the Program with the bor11 rower, $500. 

12 (2) PERMANENT MODIFICATIONS.—For each 

13 mortgage for which a servicer or lender has entered 

14 into a permanent modification under the Program 

15 with the borrower, $750. 

16 (3) HOME AFFORDABLE FORECLOSURE ALTER17 NATIVES PROGRAM.—For each mortgage for which 

18 the servicer or lender has agreed to an alternative to 

19 foreclosure under the Home Affordable Foreclosure 

20 Alternatives (HAFA) Program, $300. 

21 (d) ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.—The Neighborhood Re22 investment Corporation may use up to 15 percent of the 

23 amount allocated under subsection (a) for administrative 

24 expenses. 


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1 (e) USE OF FORECLOSURE MITIGATION COUNSELING

2 FUNDS.—Not later than the expiration of the 180-day pe3 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, 

4 the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation shall estab5 lish a procedure by which the National Foreclosure Miti6 gation Counseling Program shall direct the amounts pro7 vided to such Program pursuant to this section to partici8 pating housing counseling agencies. 

9 (f) NATIONAL FORECLOSURE MITIGATION COUN10 SELING PROGRAM.—For purposes of this section, the term 

11 ‘‘National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program’’ 

12 means the program of the Neighborhood Reinvestment 

13 Corporation for mortgage foreclosure mitigation activities 

14 carried out pursuant to— 

15 (1) title III of division K of the Consolidated 

16 Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–161; 

17 121 Stat. 2441); 

18 (2) section 2305 of the Housing and Economic 

19 Recovery Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 5301 note); 

20 (3) title III of division I of the Omnibus Appro21 priations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111–8; 123 Stat. 

22 9821); and 

23 (4) any other provision of law providing 

24 amounts to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Cor25 poration for such activities. 


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1 (g) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

2 shall revise the guidelines of the Making Home Affordable 

3 initiative and the Home Affordable Modification Program 

4 as necessary to carry out this section. 

5 SEC. 3. COLLECTION OF PROGRAM DATA AND DISCLOSURE 

6 TO SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DE7 VELOPMENT. 

8 (a) COLLECTION OF PROGRAM DATA.—The Sec9 retary of the Treasury shall revise the guidelines of the 

10 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) of the 

11 Making Home Affordable initiative of the Secretary, au12 thorized under title I of the Emergency Economic Sta13 bilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.), to provide 

14 for the collection, by the Secretary on a monthly basis 

15 from each mortgage servicer and lender participating in 

16 the Program, of comprehensive data on the activities of 

17 the servicer or lender under the Home Affordable Modi18 fication Program. Such comprehensive data shall identify 

19 the participating housing counseling agency, when applica20 ble, and shall include the following information: 

21 (1) The number of requests for mortgage modi22 fications under the Program that the servicer or 

23 lender has received. 

24 (2) The number of requests for mortgage modi25 fications under the Program that the servicer or 


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1 lender has received for mortgages for borrowers hav2 ing back-end debt-to-income ratios equal to or great3 er than 55 percent. 

4 (3) The number of requests for mortgage modi5 fications under the Program that the servicer or 

6 lender has processed. 

7 (4) The number of requests for mortgage modi8 fications under the Program that the servicer or 

9 lender has processed for mortgages for borrowers 

10 having back-end debt-to-income ratios equal to or 

11 greater than 55 percent. 

12 (5) The number of requests for mortgage modi13 fications under the Program for which the servicer 

14 or lender has entered into a trial modification with 

15 the borrower. 

16 (6) The number of requests for mortgage modi17 fications under the Program for which— 

18 (A) the servicer or lender has entered into 

19 a trial modification with the borrower; and 

20 (B) the borrower has a back-end debt-to21 income ratio equal to or greater than 55 per22 cent. 

23 (7) The number of requests for mortgage modi24 fications under the Program for which the servicer 


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1 or lender has entered into a permanent modification 

2 with the borrower. 

3 (8) The number of requests for mortgage modi4 fications under the Program for which— 

5 (A) the servicer or lender has entered into 

6 a permanent modification with the borrower; 

7 and 

8 (B) the borrower has a back-end debt-to9 income ratio equal to or greater than 55 per10 cent. 

11 (9) The number of requests for mortgage modi12 fications under the Program that the servicer or 

13 lender has denied. 

14 (10) The number of requests for mortgage 

15 modifications under the Program that the servicer or 

16 lender has denied for mortgages for borrowers hav17 ing back-end debt-to-income ratios equal to or great18 er than 55 percent. 

19 (b) DISCLOSURE TO SECRETARY OF HUD.—Not 

20 later than 14 days after each monthly deadline for submis21 sion of data by mortgage servicers and lenders partici22 pating in the Home Affordable Modification Program, the 

23 Secretary shall provide a report to the Secretary of Hous24 ing and Urban Development containing such monthly data 

25 collected by the Secretary of the Treasury from mortgage 


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1 servicers and lenders participating in the Program, includ2 ing the information specified in subsection (a). 

3 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 30 days 

4 after receipt by the Secretary of Housing and Urban De5 velopment of each monthly report pursuant to subsection 

6 (b), the Secretary of the Treasury shall make such report 

7 publicly available by means of a World Wide Web site of 

8 the Secretary and by submitting a report to the Congress. 

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

10 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

11 shall apply: 

12 (1) BACK-END DEBT-TO-INCOME RATIO.—The 

13 term ‘‘back-end debt-to-income ratio’’ means, with 

14 respect to the borrower under a mortgage for which 

15 a request for modification under the Home Afford16 able Modification Program or a modification under 

17 such Program has been made, the ratio of monthly 

18 payments due on all debts of the borrower (including 

19 mortgage principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, 

20 and all other recurring debt) to the gross monthly 

21 income of the borrower before any such modification 

22 under such Program, as further defined by the Sec23 retary in guidelines for the Home Affordable Modi24 fication Program. 


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1 (2) SECRETARY.—Except where specifically 

2 provided otherwise, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the 

3 Secretary of the Treasury. 

Æ 


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