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US ‘foreclosure fix' on the horizon?
US homeowners ravaged by the housing crisis have finally received some good news...
The US Senate this week passed a package of measures designed to help businesses and homeowners weather the housing crisis.
The plan combines large tax breaks for homebuilders and a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy foreclosed properties, as well as $4 billion in grants for communities to buy and fix up abandoned homes. The bill also offers $150 billion for pre-foreclosure counseling and stronger loan disclosure requirements.
The measure, titled the Foreclosure Prevention Act, still needs to a lot of work, but it is the first step along the road to helping out struggling homeowners. Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee commented: “Quite candidly, what we’ve done does not quite live up to the title. We have more work to do. We do not do enough in preventing more foreclosures in the country.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, added: “This is just the beginning of the process. This bill will go to the House. With the House and the White House we can come up with a piece of legislation fairly quickly.”
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