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ICYMI: Ranking Member Waters Applauds FHFA Director Sandra Thompson for Mortgage Pricing Updates During Full Committee Hearing

Washington, May 25, 2023
During this week’s full Committee hearing entitled, “FHFA Oversight: Protecting Homeowners and Taxpayers,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, applauded the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director, Sandra Thompson for the agency’s recent move to improve mortgage pricing for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. During the hearing, Ranking Member Waters corrected Republican misinformation and highlighted the effects that the new pricing grid will have in the housing market, especially for first-time homebuyers, those in rural communities, and nearly half of all homebuyers who are unable to make a 20% downpayment on a home.

These improvements include:
  • Ensuring lower-income borrowers with great credit scores are not unfairly penalized compared tosimilar borrowers with higher income and wealth.
  • Correcting for unfair subsidies that have benefited wealthier individuals purchasing lavish vacation homes and investment properties for over a decade.
  • Benefiting constituents everywhere, including in Chair McHenry’s district in North Carolina and Subcommittee Chair Davidson’s district in Ohio, where homebuyers will pay some of the lowest fees among all Enterprise borrowers. 
  • Expanding access to the American Dream of homeownership for every creditworthy borrower on fair terms.

During the hearing, Ranking Member Waters also called on Republicans to end their brinkmanship over our nation’s debt, which would cause devastation to our nation’s housing market. In fact, if the U.S. defaults on its debt, mortgage rates could rise above 8%, which would decimate the American dream of homeownership for millions of families.

Ranking Member Waters and Committee Democrats vowed to support policies that help every family live affordably and with dignity, both through housing reforms and cleanly raising the debt ceiling.

Read Ranking Member Waters’ opening statement HERE.

  

Watch the full hearing HERE.
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