On Monday Senator Claire McCaskill accepted a national award presented by AARP for her legislative work to protect senior citizens from aggressive marketing and predatory lending in the reverse mortgage industry.  The award is part of AARP’s Congressional Award program which honors members of Congress for their efforts on behalf of Americans over the age of 50.According to the press release, Senator McCaskill’s legislation tightened regulations governing federally insured reserve mortgages by adding firewalls to prevent sales of exotic financial products in conjunction with reverse mortgages and gave HUD new oversight authority to guarantee independent counseling to protect seniors and taxpayers. Unfortunately, her legislation doesn’t guarantee independent counseling and the fact that government officials don’t follow how Bills are implemented is crazy.  The provision which called for HUD to consider using some of its FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium income to pay counseling costs, sounded like a great idea.  However, HUD’s lawyers have determined that this provision is flawed and would violate federal credit reform requirements and is impossible to do. The result of this is seniors are being turned away from counseling if they are unable to pay upfront because of Senator McCaskill’s legislation.  Does that sound like something that deserves an award?    I’ve tried to contact McCaskill’s office but haven’t heard back. I even used the form on her website to make sure she was aware this was happening because I do think she has the right intentions.  Unfortunately, the only response I’ve received is this: 

Thank you for contacting my office.  I appreciate hearing from you.Unfortunately, your message was caught in Senate spam filters designed to address the tens of thousands of spam e-mails received every month.  In order to provide a responsive level of service for my Missouri constituents, please submit your comments through the webform on my Senate website – http://mccaskill.senate.gov.I apologize in advance for the inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding.Again, thanks for your e-mail.- Senator Claire McCaskill

I’m all for handing out awards when they are deserved, but unless Senator McCaskill sees her provisions through to make sure they’re implemented… receiving an award like this is a joke.AARP Presents McCaskill with Award for Work on Reverse Mortgages

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