Public Law 111-22/Division A/Title IV

TITLE IV—FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM PROVISIONS

SEC. 401. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS ON FORECLOSURES.

(a) In general.—

It is the sense of the Congress that mortgage holders, institutions, and mortgage servicers should not initiate a foreclosure proceeding or a foreclosure sale on any homeowner until the foreclosure mitigation provisions, like the Hope for Homeowners program, as required under title II, and the President’s ``Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan´´ have been implemented and determined to be operational by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of the Treasury.

(b) Scope of moratorium.—

The foreclosure moratorium referred to in subsection (a) should apply only for first mortgages secured by the owner’s principal dwelling.

(c) FHA-regulated loan modification agreements.—

If a mortgage holder, institution, or mortgage servicer to which subsection (a) applies reaches a loan modification agreement with a homeowner under the auspices of the Federal Housing Administration before any plan referred to in such subsection takes effect, subsection (a) shall cease to apply to such institution as of the effective date of the loan modification agreement.

(d) Duty of consumer To maintain property.—

Any homeowner for whose benefit any foreclosure proceeding or sale is barred under subsection (a) from being instituted, continued, or consummated with respect to any homeowner mortgage should not, with respect to any property securing such mortgage, destroy, damage, or impair such property, allow the property to deteriorate, or commit waste on the property.

(e) Duty of consumer To respond to reasonable inquiries.—

Any homeowner for whose benefit any foreclosure proceeding or sale is barred under subsection (a) from being instituted, continued, or consummated with respect to any homeowner mortgage should respond to reasonable inquiries from a creditor or servicer during the period during which such foreclosure proceeding or sale is barred.

SEC. 402. PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT PROGRAM; ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR THE TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM.

(a) Short title.—

This section may be cited as the ``Public-Private Investment Program Improvement and Oversight Act of 2009´´.

(b) Public-Private Investment Program.—

(1) In general.—

Any program established by the Federal Government to create a public-private investment fund shall—

(A) in consultation with the Special Inspector General of the Trouble Asset Relief Program (in this section referred to as the ``Special Inspector General´´), impose strict conflict of interest rules on managers of public-private investment funds to ensure that securities bought by the funds are purchased in arms-length transactions, that fiduciary duties to public and private investors in the fund are not violated, and that there is full disclosure of relevant facts and financial interests (which conflict of interest rules shall be implemented by the manager of a public-private investment fund prior to such fund receiving Federal Government financing);

(B) require each public-private investment fund to make a quarterly report to the Secretary of the Treasury (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary´´) that discloses the 10 largest positions of such fund (which reports shall be publicly disclosed at such time as the Secretary of the Treasury determines that such disclosure will not harm the ongoing business operations of the fund);

(C) allow the Special Inspector General access to all books and records of a public-private investment fund, including all records of financial transactions in machine readable form, and the confidentiality of all such information shall be maintained by the Special Inspector General;

(D) require each manager of a public-private investment fund to retain all books, documents, and records relating to such public-private investment fund, including electronic messages;

(E) require each manager of a public-private investment fund to acknowledge, in writing, a fiduciary duty to both the public and private investors in such fund;

(F) require each manager of a public-private investment fund to develop a robust ethics policy that includes methods to ensure compliance with such policy;

(G) require strict investor screening procedures for public-private investment funds; and

(H) require each manager of a public-private fund to identify for the Secretary, on a periodic basis, each investor that, individually or together with affiliates, directly or indirectly, holds equity interests equal to at least 10 percent of the equity interest of the fund including if such interests are held in a vehicle formed for the purpose of directly or indirectly investing in the fund.

(2) Interaction between public-private investment funds and the Term-asset Backed Securities Loan Facility.—

The Secretary shall consult with the Special Inspector General and shall issue regulations governing the interaction of the Public-Private Investment Program, the Term-Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility, and other similar public-private investment programs. Such regulations shall address concerns regarding the potential for excessive leverage that could result from interactions between such programs.

(3) Report.—

Not later than 60 days after the date of the establishment of a program described in paragraph (1), the Special Inspector General shall submit a report to Congress on the implementation of this section.

(c) Additional Appropriations for the Special Inspector General.—

(1) In general.—

Of amounts made available under section 115(a) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–343), $15,000,000 shall be made available to the Special Inspector General, which shall be in addition to amounts otherwise made available to the Special Inspector General.

(2) Priorities.—

In utilizing funds made available under this section, the Special Inspector General shall prioritize the performance of audits or investigations of recipients of non-recourse Federal loans made under any program that is funded in whole or in part by funds appropriated under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, to the extent that such priority is consistent with other aspects of the mission of the Special Inspector General. Such audits or investigations shall determine the existence of any collusion between the loan recipient and the seller or originator of the asset used as loan collateral, or any other conflict of interest that may have led the loan recipient to deliberately overstate the value of the asset used as loan collateral.

(d) Rule of Construction.—

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to any activity of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in connection with insured depository institutions, as described in section 13(c)(2)(B) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

(e) Definition.—

In this section, the term ``public-private investment fund´´ means a financial vehicle that is—

(1) established by the Federal Government to purchase pools of loans, securities, or assets from a financial institution described in section 101(a)(1) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211(a)(1)); and

(2) funded by a combination of cash or equity from private investors and funds provided by the Secretary of the Treasury or funds appropriated under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

(f) Offset of costs of program changes.—

Notwithstanding the amendment made by section 202(b) of this Act, paragraph (3) of section 115(a) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5225) is amended by inserting ``, as such amount is reduced by $1,259,000,000,´´ after ``$700,000,000,000´´.

(g) Regulations.—

The Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe such regulations or other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities or purposes of this section.

SEC. 403. REMOVAL OF REQUIREMENT TO LIQUIDATE WARRANTS UNDER THE TARP.

Section 111(g) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5221(g)) is amended by striking ``shall liquidate warrants associated with such assistance at the current market price´´ and inserting ``, at the market price, may liquidate warrants associated with such assistance´´.

SEC. 404. NOTIFICATION OF SALE OR TRANSFER OF MORTGAGE LOANS.

(a) In general.—

Section 131 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1641) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(g) Notice of new creditor.—

``(1) In general.—In addition to other disclosures required by this title, not later than 30 days after the date on which a mortgage loan is sold or otherwise transferred or assigned to a third party, the creditor that is the new owner or assignee of the debt shall notify the borrower in writing of such transfer, including—

``(A) the identity, address, telephone number of the new creditor;

``(B) the date of transfer;

``(C) how to reach an agent or party having authority to act on behalf of the new creditor;

``(D) the location of the place where transfer of ownership of the debt is recorded; and

``(E) any other relevant information regarding the new creditor.

``(2) Definition.—As used in this subsection, the term ‘mortgage loan’ means any consumer credit transaction that is secured by the principal dwelling of a consumer.´´.

(b) Private right of action.—

Section 130(a) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1640(a)) is amended by inserting ``subsection (f) or (g) of section 131,´´ after ``section 125,´´.