Al Franken's Homeowner Advocate Office Amendment Passes the Senate

Last month I blogged about a proposed financial reform amendment sponsored by Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) The  amendment to the Financial Reform Bill would create an Office of Homeowner Advocate to assist homeowners who have been denied a loan modification through HAMP. The office would provide a much needed outlet for homeowner's who have been denied HAMP modifications, for whatever reason.

You can read a summary of the bill in my earlier blogs here:
 Amendment calls for Homeowner Advocate Office to Handle Mortgage Servicing Complaints

and here: U.S. Sen. Al Franken's proposed Homeowners' Advocate Office needs advocates...

Today, Richard Zombeck, founder of Shame The Banks.org wrote a piece in his Huffington Post blog that shares the news that Franken's Amendment passed by a vote of 63-33.

A couple of excerpts;

...Banks and servicers have been claiming for almost over a year now that denials are a result of uncooperative homeowners. The banks and servicers should be pleased to finally have a government office dedicated to exposing the real reason for 230,000 HAMP applications being denied in April alone. This should finally shed some light on where the blame should be cast and help everyone sleep better at night.

"This victory means help for the many [homeowners] who are in danger of losing their homes through no fault of their own," Franken said. "These families are doing their best in a tough economy that they didn't create. And they need to know there's someone who has their back when they're trying to navigate the already stressful system of avoiding foreclosure."

Read more here: Finally some hope of HAMP oversight!