Evening star., 1934-07-08
|MOFFETT TO SPEED
I. HOUSING LOANS
Declares First Funds Will Be
Guaranteed in Less Than
a Month.

HAL u DllllOu QOlldTS LII IlOIne TcIlOs
vation by the Fall and the ultimate
unemployment Of 100000 persons in
the various building and allied trades
are his immediate objectfves.
In less than a month, he asserted
at his first press conference yesterday
the Federal Housing Administration
will guarantee its first loan under the
the other features Of the legislation
will be put into operation as quickly
as the machinery can be set up to
do 1t.
Credit Standing Factor.
A point of paramount interest to
home owners contemplating modern
ization-the question of security re-
quired under the new fund-lendine
set-up-was cleared up by Moffett
yesterday, when he stated that char
acter and credit standing" would bt
the only requisites. No mortgages ol
liens are contemplated.
Consumer credit" the housing ad.
ministrator said, has shown a re.
markably low loss ratio, even during
the depression years. 1t Is for thi:
reason that the installment plan oi
financing home repairs will be urged
upon private lending agencies by tht
administration. The Government
stands ready to guarantee 20 per CEN
Of loans made by these agencies, bu
we do not expect the loss ratio X
reach nearly half that"
Process viii Be Simple.
Moffett emphasized that the pro.
cess Of obtaining funds will be simple
with no complicated mechanism Il
bewilder the borrower. The hom'
owner simply makes application Il
his bank, building and loan associa'
ton. trust company or other financia
house, for an amount up to $4,000 tt
renovate his home. Investigation vii
be made of his credit standing, EN-
ployment. dependents and obligations
and If the findings are favorable thl
loan will be forthcoming Immediately
No Endorsement is anticipated, Moffet
said, unless the lending agency decide1
upon this course. Much Of the de
| tail of lending and terms Of repay
ment will be in the hands of thu
| financial body advancing the money
In the event of defaulting payments
customary methods of seeking col
lection would be resorted to, Moffet
said.
Has Studied Law.
Since his appointment week ago
Moffett has been in New York inten
sively studying the housing act ant
comforting with authorities in tn
field of home finance and officials o
concerns long engaged in home mod
ernization activities. On the basi
of these studies, he is convinced tn,
home modernization and repair phas
of the program can be put into opera
ton without delay.
And so far as I am concerned,
he said, "a minor job like painting {
fence comes under the head Of re-
pair and renovation"
The former 500, ,0o0-a-year stand
ard Oil Co. official, who is stoppini
temporarily at the Mayflower Hotel
plans to remain continuously In tn,
Capital until the modernization fea
ture of the housing act is in operation
The question of office space for tn
Federal Housing Administration
which will be manned by a staff o
about $50 here, was taken up by Moi
fett yesterday with one of Secretar,
Ickes' assistants, and 1t is expected
quarters will be made available earl.
this week.
Declines to Name Aides.
Moffett declined to reveal the namel
of those he has in mind to act as lieu
tenants in administering the housing
program, but stated he will name /;
director for each of the divisions o
the act-modernization mortgage in
surance, mortgage associations ant
building and loan insurance.
In carrying out activities in th'
field, the F. H. A. will seek to utiliz'
as much of the Governments exist
ing facilities, such as r. F. c.. N. E
c.. H. o. L. c., and others, as pos
sible, Moffett said. Probably a staff o
Is would be required in each State
he added
While declaring a selling cam
paign" of large proportions is con
templated to put across the idea O
property improvement, Moffett EN-
phasized care would be taken to dis
courage "over-borrowing," 1t is no
the administrations purpose, he said
to induce home owners to plunge int
debt beyond their ability to repay.
Private Industry Interested.
Private industry is vitally interested
in the program, Moffett asserted, anc
he expects whole-hearted cooperation
by it in the movement. The banking
and financial leaders of the country
have given assurance they will &C
along with the Government in the
plan. he said.
The whole thing" the administra-
tor added, 'is a sound business prop
osition, to be conducted on conserv-
ative basis
Moffett, who is 48 and the father
of five children, was named by PreSi-
dent Roosevelt to head the housing
program only few hours before the
Chief Executive left on his trip a
week ago.
"I was getting ready for a game Of
golf up on Long Island when the
long distance call came" he said. "To
my way of thinking, such an offer is
a command. I'm willing to do any
thing I can to help out.
I'm the little while since my ap-
pointment I've become convinced that
this legislation has tremendous posi-
bilitieS. Industrialists I have talked to
feel the same way, and so do the
bankers"
Moffett laughed as he said he would
get $4,000 yearly as administrator
About a year ago he quit a 100000
year post with the Standard Oil
Co. of New Jersey to serve on an
administration petroleum board. His
superiors objected to his connection
with the administration and he hand
ed them his resignation. He hat
been 27 years with the company.