WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee was slated to hold a hearing last week to look at a broad solution to the subprime mortgage problem that provides relief to borrowers and holds the original lenders accountable either through discounts, refinancings or other means.

CUNA Vice President of Legislative Affairs Dean Sagar said that credit unions can be part of the solution. However, the former staffer to committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said, "A lot of these mortgages, the reason people are in trouble, is they've refinanced several times. Their equity has been stripped. Many of them now owe more than the value of the house and to go in and just refinance it–and to hold the original lenders, brokers, all the people that buffeted and created the abuse–holds them harmless and shifts all that risk over to the credit union."

In the meantime, federal regulators issued a statement last week urging banks, thrifts, and credit unions to work with borrowers feeling the pinch of rising interest rates in their mortgage payments.