“ Owning and maintaining a home is at the center of the American Dream, but loose mortgage rules, greedy financial practices, and an addiction to credit have turned that dream into a nightmare for millions of homeowners facing foreclosure. I supported the 2010 Wall Street Reform bill because it included the toughest new restrictions on abusive mortgages in a generation, and I have been supportive of federal efforts to help modify and rewrite existing mortgages to help keep people in their homes, but there's more work to be done.

We need to allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal amount of a homeowner’s loan to current fair market value. Extending the terms of the loan or modifying the interest rate will keep more people in their homes and stem the downward spiral that results from foreclosures.

We need to unclog the housing market by reducing the amount of time it takes lenders to approve or deny a short-sale, which can be the best option for underwater homeowners but too often takes months for approval.

We need to have a federal regulator who can oversee and crack down on fraudulent and abusive practices by mortgage servicers.

We need to increase funding for agencies like Neighborhood Housing Services of Waterbury and Catholic Charities of Norwich that help homeowners who are facing foreclosure better understand what their options are.

These steps would be a good start toward solving the current foreclosure crisis. ”

“ Wall Street banks committed fraud by selling sub-prime mortgage derivatives at the same time they were betting against those derivatives with credit default swaps.

They took outrageous risks on highly leveraged bets. That cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and brought our economy to the brink of collapse.

We should make Wall Street repay this money through a transaction tax on short term high volume trading that harms normal investors. With these funds we can provide mortgage relief to middle class families whose homes are worth less than they owe.

You can read my full plan on how to fix the housing crisis by visiting http://www.susansplan.com ”