Scott announces new legislation

Senator Tim Scott introduced a bill to protect veterans from targeted predatory home loan practices.  The “Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending Act of 2018” would require lenders to demonstrate material benefit to consumers when refinancing mortgages.  The Department of Veterans Affairs’ home loan program was designed to provide veterans and service members with the chance to buy their own home through a VA insured mortgage from a private lender.  VA loans have lower credit score requirements than other mortgages and often don’t require down payments.  But today, according to the office of the South Carolina Republican, a small number of lenders are abusing the program by utilizing misleading advertising tactics and engaging in a practice known as “churning”–the refinancing of a home loan over and over again to generate fees and profits for lenders at the direct expense of veterans and their families, often without their knowledge.