Veronica Escobar Asks VA Secretary Collins About Termination Of Veterans Mortgage Assistance Program

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) spoke about the VASP program.

Transcript

00:00Ms. Escobar. Thank you Mr. Chairman and I have to say I so appreciate your

00:06collegial nature on this committee. When you stepped out for a moment we got an

00:12example of the exact opposite and it was a little shocking to me. So I want you

00:17to know I appreciate you and your leadership Mr. Chairman. Secretary

00:21Collins I have a question about the VA servicing purchase program or VASP which

00:27has helped about 17,000 veterans avoid foreclosure after falling behind on

00:32their mortgages and public reports indicate nearly 90,000 VA loans are

00:38seriously past due with approximately 33,000 of those already in the

00:44foreclosure process. Can you tell me why was VASP terminated without first

00:50instituting an immediately available alternative option to provide

00:54foreclosure relief to our veterans? Thank you Councilman. This is an

00:59interesting part because this was a program that was not started from

01:02Congress, was not initiated for Congress, it was initiated inside VBA last year from

01:07funds that they redirected at that point. Interesting enough I'm not sure they

01:11actually came to you for redirectional map from last year because it was

01:15obviously something not from this body. The problem it puts us in and we have and

01:19there's been vehement kickback from Congress especially the chairman of the

01:22House Veterans Committee that says and basically it's indicating this is not

01:27something the VA should be in. We should not be buying or be in the mortgage loan

01:31business. In fact what happened since last year 17,000 at-risk mortgages were

01:36assumed at 5.4 billion dollars assumption on the VA not anywhere else and there

01:42was nothing to go. There was estimates internal if this program was continuing

01:47estimates as high as 17 billion. We're taking property that we have no control over in the

01:52sense of how do we get rid of it, how do we manage it, or do anything else. And at the

01:56end of the day it was not helping the situation of veterans who had gotten

01:59behind in their payments or other. These were not taking people who had no home and

02:04not giving them a chance at a home, which is our mortgage process. This was taking

02:08folks who may have, you know, gotten in trouble not being able to pay their loan

02:12payments. They could resize, redownsize, and still have access to any other VA benefit

02:17from our mortgage side of the house as well. So this was just a program when you look at, when you have to go through the

02:22system and it was up for renewal, which again, we were gonna have to come to this

02:25body and ask for billions of dollars more because they were taking it from mandatory.

02:29This was not my program. This was started previously. It was just made the

02:32determination that with the stuff that we've got going on the VA, that there's

02:36other ways that we could help in this situation using other agencies and others.

02:39But for us to assume mortgages, it puts us in a, really it puts us in a very legally

02:45binding issue and also a liability issue going along on these properties if they sit

02:49vacant and things like that. So have you thought through a, you and your team, have

02:53you all thought through a plan for having some of those other agencies, as you

02:58mentioned, kind of take this over? There's not necessarily taking it over. I think

03:02there's a discussion on what do we need to do to keep this from happening to start

03:05with, to keep the veteran out of the situations that they're in. That's a bigger

03:09conversation that could be had. I mean, this, and again, I want to make it very clear, this

03:14has nothing to do with homelessness. And some, unfortunately, there was a little bit of

03:17a discussion that does this affect homelessness. This has nothing to do with

03:21that program. This has folks who actually purchased the mortgages. We're open to it.

03:26I know there's some legislation going through Congress, and especially in the

03:30Veterans Affairs Committee, on a partial claims kind of issue that would give some

03:34relief, but again, not put us on the hook for that much liability. Again, I don't

03:41underestimate the heart, necessarily, of what's trying to happen, but this was a sort of an out-of-the-blue

03:46kind of thing that VBA, who was having enough problems with everything else that they're

03:50doing, decided to start a program we shouldn't have.

03:53And I get what you're saying, so I appreciate that.

03:55But I do want to dig in a little bit, so I'm going to ask, if you don't mind, if you can

04:01follow up with me, if you and your team can follow up with me, I'm interested in knowing

04:04how many veterans were waiting for VASP assistance, what specific guidance the VA shared with those

04:12veterans after VASP was terminated, and also the number of veterans who, to y'all's knowledge,

04:20entered foreclosure or serious mortgage delinquency spanning the date of VASP cancellation to the

04:27date of your response, if you wouldn't mind. And we'll get that to you in writing.

04:30That'd be great. And can I just say one thing, is a problem we had from what was, and again,

04:34these are rough numbers, we'll get you more, there's about 5,000 that had applied that had

04:39not got, nobody was under the program was taken off the program. That's also something to understand,

04:43we just take, we just did, we did no more re-entrance after May 1st. And so there's nobody

04:48that was in the program that was kicked off the program, this was just saying we're not adding

04:51any more. Okay. But I'll help you get the other information. Perfect. And I want to, I'm just about out of

04:56time. So I'll have to get you my other questions in writing. Thank you. I yield back.

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