Fact Check On Clinton's Claim That She Is the Only Candidate to Speak About the Mortgage Crisis

Clinton Claimed She Is the Only Candidate Talking About the Mortgage Crisis for a Year. Clinton said, "I would have an aggressive policy to trying to stop home foreclosure foreclosures. I'm the only candidate left in this race on either side talking about the mortgage crisis for a year. Put a moratorium on foreclosures to help people stay in their homes and freeze the interest rates that continue to drive people into foreclosure." [CNN, 2/5/08]

Obama Wrote an Op-Ed On the Mortgage Crisis in August. Obama wrote, "The implosion of the subprime lending industry is more than a temporary blip in our economic progress. It is a cancer that, given today's integrated financial markets, threatens to spread with devastating impact to housing and to our economy as a whole, unless we act to contain it... We need to help struggling borrowers to weather this storm. One way to protect innocent homeowners - at least until this crisis passes - is to establish a fund to help people refinance or sell to avoid foreclosure. We can partially pay for this fund by imposing penalties on lenders that acted irresponsibly or committed fraud." [Financial Times, 8/29/07]

Obama Introduced Stop Fraud Act in 2006, To Combat Mortgage Fraud and Abuse. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "To help shine the spotlight on con artists, the Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry trade groups are backing legislation by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) that would criminalize mortgage fraud at the federal level. The 'STOP FRAUD Act' would expand the suspicious activity reports requirement, establish a database of censured and debarred mortgage professionals and provide funding for enforcement activities. The trade group also has asked the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to give the FBI $6.25 million a year for five years in dedicating funding to assist in the agency's efforts in tracking down and prosecuting mortgage fraud. The money would provide for new field investigators, prosecutors and support staff in areas with the highest concentrations of mortgage fraud." [Chicago Tribune, 6/11/06]

Obama Reintroduced Stop Fraud Act in 2007. "On the heels of reports that the housing market experienced its worst sales-month in 18 years and foreclosures are up 47% compared to last year, Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today reintroduced the STOP FRAUD Act, legislation that combats mortgage fraud and abuse. In less than five years, there has been a 137 percent increase in the number of cases of mortgage fraud and abuse being investigated by the FBI." [Obama Release, 4/25/07]