ARLINGTON, Va. — In preparation for today's 1 p.m. markup of The Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007 (H.R. 3609), NAFCU sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee leadership.

"While fully recognizing the well-intentioned efforts of H.R. 3609 to address issues related to the current sub-prime mortgage crisis, we believe that the potential impact H.R. 3609 may impose on the credit availability to consumers outweighs its benefits and we urge the Committee to oppose this legislation in its current form at mark-up," NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker said.

The bill would allow bankruptcy judges to restructure the terms of a mortgage in a Chapter 13 proceeding. NAFCU had a problem with all loans being covered when the intent was to curb the subprime mortgage crisis. "We believe that such broad based coverage of all mortgages and home equity loans by the Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007 will create greater uncertainty in the mortgage market and likely lead to higher costs to credit union members," Becker wrote.