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August 31, 2007
<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"></nyt_headline>Bush Plans Steps to Help Troubled Borrowers
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By <a title="More Articles by Steven R. Weisman" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/steven_r_weisman/index.html?inline=nyt-per">STEVEN R. WEISMAN</a>
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<p>WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 — President Bush, in his first response to low-income families hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, plans to announce several steps Friday aimed at helping Americans with credit difficulties to meet the rising cost of their housing loans, administration officials said Thursday.</p>
<p>The officials said Mr. Bush would call for the Federal Housing Administration to raise the ceilings on what it can charge for federal mortgage insurance, a move that they said would enable an additional 80,000 homeowners with spotty credit records to take advantage of the program, beyond the 160,000 likely to use it this year and next.</p>
<p>Several other steps the administration plans to announce involve seeking legislative changes and what one official called “jawboning” of banks and other lending institutions to avoid foreclosing on distressed mortgage holders.</p>
<p>Administration officials briefed a handful of news organizations on the proposals to be announced by President Bush, apparently to generate attention for these steps at a time of rising Democratic criticism and to demonstrate concern for Americans anxious over their ability to pay their housing costs.</p>
<p>Democratic presidential candidates and Congressional leaders have hammered the administration in recent weeks, charging Mr. Bush with indifference to the plight of an estimated two million homeowners whose mortgage costs are expected to go up in the next year and a half.</p>
<p>Many of these homeowners are lower-income families caught in the squeeze of variable-rate mortgages whose cost is certain to spike in coming weeks and months even as the value of their homes declines. Many are considered likely to default, possibly increasing the global turmoil in the financial markets.</p>
<p>In addition, Mr. Bush is expected to endorse several proposals backed by Democrats in Congress that would raise the ceiling on the amount of mortgage insurance available for refinancing and to provide tax relief to those who renegotiate their mortgages to their financial advantage.</p>
<p>The recent turmoil in the financial markets was prompted in part by a decline in housing values in the United States, a rise in interest rates and the prospect that mortgage holders will default on their payments. That prospect in turn is causing losses to investors and lenders around the world.</p>
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<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"></nyt_headline>Bush Plans Steps to Help Troubled Borrowers
<p><nyt_byline type=" " version="1.0"></nyt_byline></p>
By <a title="More Articles by Steven R. Weisman" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/steven_r_weisman/index.html?inline=nyt-per">STEVEN R. WEISMAN</a>
<p><nyt_text></nyt_text></p>
<p>WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 — President Bush, in his first response to low-income families hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, plans to announce several steps Friday aimed at helping Americans with credit difficulties to meet the rising cost of their housing loans, administration officials said Thursday.</p>
<p>The officials said Mr. Bush would call for the Federal Housing Administration to raise the ceilings on what it can charge for federal mortgage insurance, a move that they said would enable an additional 80,000 homeowners with spotty credit records to take advantage of the program, beyond the 160,000 likely to use it this year and next.</p>
<p>Several other steps the administration plans to announce involve seeking legislative changes and what one official called “jawboning” of banks and other lending institutions to avoid foreclosing on distressed mortgage holders.</p>
<p>Administration officials briefed a handful of news organizations on the proposals to be announced by President Bush, apparently to generate attention for these steps at a time of rising Democratic criticism and to demonstrate concern for Americans anxious over their ability to pay their housing costs.</p>
<p>Democratic presidential candidates and Congressional leaders have hammered the administration in recent weeks, charging Mr. Bush with indifference to the plight of an estimated two million homeowners whose mortgage costs are expected to go up in the next year and a half.</p>
<p>Many of these homeowners are lower-income families caught in the squeeze of variable-rate mortgages whose cost is certain to spike in coming weeks and months even as the value of their homes declines. Many are considered likely to default, possibly increasing the global turmoil in the financial markets.</p>
<p>In addition, Mr. Bush is expected to endorse several proposals backed by Democrats in Congress that would raise the ceiling on the amount of mortgage insurance available for refinancing and to provide tax relief to those who renegotiate their mortgages to their financial advantage.</p>
<p>The recent turmoil in the financial markets was prompted in part by a decline in housing values in the United States, a rise in interest rates and the prospect that mortgage holders will default on their payments. That prospect in turn is causing losses to investors and lenders around the world.</p>
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