42 USC 8108 - Warnings to homeowners of foreclosure rescue scams

Collapse to view only § 8108. Warnings to homeowners of foreclosure rescue scams

§ 8101. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose
§ 8102. Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
§ 8103. Board of Directors
§ 8104. Officers and employees
§ 8105. Powers and duties of corporation
§ 8106. Reports and audits
§ 8107. Appropriations
§ 8108. Warnings to homeowners of foreclosure rescue scams

§ 8101. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

(a) The Congress finds that—

(1) the neighborhood housing services demonstration of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force has proven its worth as a successful program to revitalize older urban neighborhoods by mobilizing public, private, and community resources at the neighborhood level; and

(2) the demand for neighborhood housing services programs in cities throughout the United States warrants the creation of a public corporation to institutionalize and expand the neighborhood housing services program and other programs of the present Urban Reinvestment Task Force.

(b) The purpose of this subchapter is to establish a public corporation which will continue the joint efforts of the Federal financial supervisory agencies and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote reinvestment in older neighborhoods by local financial institutions working cooperatively with community people and local government, and which will continue the nonbureaucratic approach of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force, relying largely on local initiative for the specific design of local programs.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 602, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2115.)

§ 8102. Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

(a) Establishment

There is established a Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the “corporation”) which shall be a body corporate and shall possess the powers, and shall be subject to the direction and limitations specified herein.

(b) Implementation and expansion of demonstration activities

The corporation shall implement and expand the demonstration activities carried out by the Urban Reinvestment Task Force.

The corporation shall maintain its principal office in the District of Columbia or at such other place the corporation may from time to time prescribe.

(d) Exemption from taxation

The corporation, including its franchise, activities, assets, and income, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States, by any territory, dependency, or possession thereof, or by any State, county, municipality, or local taxing authority, except that any real property of the corporation shall be subject to State, territorial, county, municipal, or local taxation to the same extent according to its value as other real property is taxed.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 603, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2115; Pub. L. 96–399, title III, § 315(1), Oct. 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 1645.)

§ 8103. Board of Directors

(a) Membership

The corporation shall be under the direction of a board of directors made up of the following members:

(1) the Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board or a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to be designated by the Chairman;

(2) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(3) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to be designated by the Chairman;

(4) the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the appointive member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation if so designated by the Chairman;

(5) the Comptroller of the Currency; and

(6) the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration or a member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration to be designated by the Chairman.

(b) Election of chairman

The Board shall elect from among its members a chairman who shall serve for a term of two years, except that the Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board shall serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the first such two-year term.

Each director of the corporation shall serve ex officio during the period he holds the office to which he is appointed by the President.

(d) Compensation and expenses

The directors of the corporation, as full-time officers of the United States, shall serve without additional compensation but shall be reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as directors of the corporation.

(e) Bylaws, policies and administrative provisions

The directors of the corporation shall adopt such bylaws, policies, and administrative provisions as are necessary to the functioning of the corporation and consistent with the provisions of this subchapter.

(f) Director absences; designated representatives

A director who is necessarily absent from a meeting of the board, or of a committee of the board, may participate in such meeting through a duly designated representative who is serving, pursuant to appointment by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, in the same department, agency, corporation, or instrumentality as the absent director, or in the case of the Comptroller of the Currency, through a duly designated Deputy Comptroller.

(g) Quorum

The presence of a majority of the board members, or their representatives as provided in subsection (f), shall constitute a quorum.

(h) Application of other laws

The corporation shall be subject to the provisions of section 552 of title 5.

(i) Meetings of board

All meetings of the board of directors will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of section 552b of title 5.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 604, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2115; Pub. L. 97–320, title VII, § 710(a), Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1544; Pub. L. 100–242, title V, § 520(a), Feb. 5, 1988, 101 Stat. 1938; Pub. L. 100–628, title X, § 1085, Nov. 7, 1988, 102 Stat. 3278.)

§ 8104. Officers and employees

(a) Employment, compensation and benefits

The board shall have power to select, employ, and fix the salary and benefits of such officers, employees, attorneys, and agents as shall be necessary for the performance of its duties under this subchapter, without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service, classification, and General Schedule pay rates, except that no officer, employee, attorney, or agent of the corporation may be paid salary at a rate in excess of the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule, except that the board-appointed officers may be paid salary at a rate not to exceed level II of the Executive Schedule. The Corporation shall also apply the provisions of section 5307(a)(1), (b)(1) and (b)(2) of title 5 governing limitations on certain pay as if its employees were Federal employees receiving payments under title 5.

(b) Appointment of executive director

The directors of the corporation shall appoint an executive director who shall serve as chief executive officer of the corporation.

The executive director of the corporation, subject to approval by the board, may appoint and remove such employees of the corporation as he determines necessary to carry out the purposes of the corporation.

(d) Prohibition of political tests and qualifications in selection, etc., of personnel

No political test or political qualification shall be used in selecting, appointing, promoting, or taking any other personnel action with respect to any officer, agent, or employee of the corporation or of any recipient, or in selecting or monitoring any grantee, contractor, or person or entity receiving financial assistance under this subchapter.

(e) Employee status; applicability of administrative and cost standards of Office of Management and Budget

Officers and employees of the corporation shall not be considered officers or employees of the United States, and the corporation shall not be considered a department, agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Government. The corporation shall be subject to administrative and cost standards issued by the Office of Management and Budget similar to standards applicable to non-profit grantees and educational institutions.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 605, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2116; Pub. L. 108–199, div. G, title III,[(1), (2)], Jan. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 413; Pub. L. 111–117, div. A, title III, Dec. 16, 2009, 123 Stat. 3108.)

§ 8105. Powers and duties of corporation

(a) Continuance of work of Urban Reinvestment Task Force regarding neighborhood housing services programs and preservation projects

(1) The corporation shall continue the work of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force in establishing neighborhood housing services programs in neighborhoods throughout the United States, monitoring their progress, and providing them with grants and technical assistance. For the purpose of this paragraph, a neighborhood housing services program may involve a partnership of neighborhood residents and representatives of local governmental and financial institutions, organized as a State-chartered non-profit corporation, working to bring about reinvestment in one or more neighborhoods through a program of systematic housing inspections, increased public investment, increased private lending, increased resident investment, and a revolving loan fund to make loans available at flexible rates and terms to homeowners not meeting private lending criteria.

(2) The corporation shall continue the work of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force in identifying, monitoring, evaluating, and providing grants and technical assistance to selected neighborhood preservation projects which show promise as mechanisms for reversing neighborhood decline and improving the quality of neighborhood life.

(3) The corporation shall experimentally replicate neighborhood preservation projects which have demonstrated success, and after creating reliable developmental processes, bring the new programs to neighborhoods throughout the United States which in the judgment of the corporation can benefit therefrom, by providing assistance in organizing programs, providing grants in partial support of program costs, and providing technical assistance to ongoing programs.

(4) The corporation shall continue the work of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force in supporting Neighborhood Housing Services of America, a nonprofit corporation established to provide services to local neighborhood housing services programs, with support which may include technical assistance and grants to expand its national loan purchase pool and may contract with it for services which it can perform more efficiently or effectively than the corporation.

(5) The corporation shall, in making and providing the foregoing grants and technical and other assistance, determine the reporting and management restrictions or requirements with which the recipients of such grants or other assistance must comply. In making such determinations, the corporation shall assure that recipients of grants and other assistance make available to the corporation such information as may be necessary to determine compliance with applicable Federal laws.

(b) General administrative powersTo carry out the foregoing purposes and engage in the foregoing activities, the corporation is authorized—

(1) to adopt, alter, and use a corporate seal;

(2) to have succession until dissolved by Act of Congress;

(3) to make and perform contracts, agreements, and commitments;

(4) to sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any State, Federal, or other court;

(5) to determine its necessary expenditures and the manner in which the same shall be incurred, allowed, and paid, and appoint, employ, and fix and provide for the compensation of consultants, without regard to any other law, except as provided in section 8107(d) of this title;

(6) to settle, adjust, and compromise, and with or without compensation or benefit to the corporation to release or waive in whole or in part, in advance or otherwise, any claim, demand, or right of, by, or against the corporation;

(7) to invest such funds of the corporation in such investments as the board of directors may prescribe;

(8) to acquire, take, hold, and own, and to deal with and dispose of any property; and

(9) to exercise all other powers that are necessary and proper to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.

(1) The corporation may contract with the Office of Neighborhood Reinvestment of the Federal home loan banks for all staff, services, facilities, and equipment now or in the future furnished by the Office of Neighborhood Reinvestment to the Urban Reinvestment Task Force, including receiving the services of the Director of the Office of Neighborhood Reinvestment as the corporation’s executive director.

(2) The corporation shall have the power to award contracts and grants to—

(A) neighborhood housing services corporations and other nonprofit corporations engaged in neighborhood preservation activities; and

(B) local governmental bodies.

(3) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal home loan banks, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration or any other department, agency, or other instrumentality of the Federal Government are authorized to provide funds, services and facilities, with or without reimbursement, necessary to achieve the objectives and to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.

(d) Non-profit nature of corporation

(1) The corporation shall have no power to issue any shares of stocks, or to declare or pay any dividends.

(2) No part of the income or assets of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of any director, officer, or employee, except as reasonable compensation for services or reimbursement for expenses.

(3) The corporation may not contribute to or otherwise support any political party or candidate for elective public office.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 606, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2117; Pub. L. 96–399, title III, § 315(2), Oct. 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 1645; Pub. L. 97–320, title VII, § 710(b), Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1544; Pub. L. 111–203, title III, § 374, July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 1566.)

§ 8106. Reports and audits

(a) Annual report to President and Congress

The corporation shall publish an annual report which shall be transmitted by the corporation to the President and the Congress.

(b) Annual audit of accounts

The accounts of the corporation shall be audited annually. Such audits shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards by independent certified public accountants who are certified by a regulatory authority of the jurisdiction in which the audit is undertaken.

In addition to the annual audit, the financial transactions of the corporation for any fiscal year during which Federal funds are available to finance any portion of its operations may be audited by the Government Accountability Office in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States.

(d) Audit of grantees and contractors of corporation

For any fiscal year during which Federal funds are available to finance any portion of the corporation’s grants or contracts, the Government Accountability Office, in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States, may audit the grantees or contractors of the corporation.

(e) Annual financial audit

The corporation shall conduct or require each grantee or contractor to provide for an annual financial audit. The report of each such audit shall be maintained for a period of at least five years at the principal office of the corporation.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 607, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2118; Pub. L. 104–66, title II, § 2161, Dec. 21, 1995, 109 Stat. 731; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.)

§ 8107. Appropriations

(a) Authorization

(1) There are authorized to be appropriated to the corporation to carry out this subchapter $29,476,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $30,713,992 for fiscal year 1994. Not more than 15 percent of any amount appropriated under this paragraph for any fiscal year may be used for administrative expenses.

(2) Of the amount appropriated pursuant to this subsection for any fiscal year, amounts appropriated in excess of the amount necessary to continue existing services of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in revitalizing declining neighborhoods shall be available—

(A) to expand the national neighborhood housing services network and to assist network capacity development, including expansion of rental housing resources;

(B) to expand the loan purchase capacity of the national neighborhood housing services secondary market operated by Neighborhood Housing Services of America;

(C) to make grants to provide incentives to extend low-income housing use in connection with properties subject to prepayment pursuant to the Low-Income Housing Preservation and Resident Ownership Act of 1990 [12 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.];

(D) to increase the resources available to the national neighborhood housing services network programs for the purchase of multifamily and single-family properties owned by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for rehabilitation (if necessary) and sale to low- and moderate-income families; and

(E) to provide matching capital grants, operating subsidies, and technical services to mutual housing associations for the development, acquisition, and rehabilitation of multifamily and single-family properties (including properties owned by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development) to ensure affordability by low- and moderate-income families.

(b) Availability of funds until expended

Funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall remain available until expended.

Non-Federal funds received by the corporation, and funds received by any recipient from a source other than the corporation, shall be accounted for and reported as receipts and disbursements separate and distinct from Federal funds.

(d) Preparation of business-type budget

The corporation shall prepare annually a business-type budget which shall be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, under such rules and regulations as the President may establish as to the date of submission, the form and span, the classifications of data, and the manner in which such budget program shall be prepared and presented. The budget of the corporation as modified, amended, or revised by the President shall be transmitted to the Congress as a part of the annual budget required by chapter 11 of title 31. Amendments to the annual budget program may be submitted from time to time.

(Pub. L. 95–557, title VI, § 608, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2119; Pub. L. 96–153, title III, § 307, Dec. 21, 1979, 93 Stat. 1113; Pub. L. 96–399, title III, § 315(3), Oct. 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 1645; Pub. L. 97–35, title III, § 314, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 398; Pub. L. 98–181, title I [title I, § 125], Nov. 30, 1983, 97 Stat. 1175; Pub. L. 98–479, title II, § 203(m), Oct. 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 2231; Pub. L. 100–242, title V, § 520(b), Feb. 5, 1988, 101 Stat. 1938; Pub. L. 101–625, title IX, § 917(c), Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4398; Pub. L. 102–550, title VIII, § 831, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 3851.)

§ 8108. Warnings to homeowners of foreclosure rescue scams

(a) Assistance to NRC

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, of any amounts made available for any fiscal year pursuant to section 1701x(a)(4)(F) of title 12 (as added by section 1444),1

1 See References in Text note below.

10 percent shall be used only for assistance to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation for activities, in consultation with servicers of residential mortgage loans, to provide notice to borrowers under such loans who are delinquent with respect to payments due under such loans that makes such borrowers aware of the dangers of fraudulent activities associated with foreclosure.

(b) Notice

The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, in consultation with servicers of residential mortgage loans, shall use the amounts provided pursuant to subsection (a) to carry out activities to inform borrowers under residential mortgage loans—

(1) that the foreclosure process is complex and can be confusing;

(2) that the borrower may be approached during the foreclosure process by persons regarding saving their home and they should use caution in any such dealings;

(3) that there are Federal Government and nonprofit agencies that may provide information about the foreclosure process, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development;

(4) that they should contact their lender immediately, contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development to find a housing counseling agency certified by the Department to assist in avoiding foreclosure, or visit the Department’s website regarding tips for avoiding foreclosure; and

(5) of the telephone number of the loan servicer or successor, the telephone number of the Department of Housing and Urban Development housing counseling line, and the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Web sites for housing counseling and for tips for avoiding foreclosure.

(Pub. L. 111–203, title XIV, § 1452, July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 2177.)