'Tsunami of foreclosures' seen

March 23, 2007
'Tsunami of foreclosures' seen

WASHINGTON -- Charges of blame were flying Thursday for the meltdown of the high-risk mortgage market as pressure mounted for Congress to do something about rising foreclosures among homeowners unable to meet high payments.

"What we're looking at is a tsunami of foreclosures that is on the horizon," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., declared at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee. Most heavily affected, he said, will be black and Hispanic homeowners who were pressured into taking out mortgages at rates they cannot afford.

Under fire from lawmakers, federal regulators said they lacked full authority to prevent the crisis spawned during the soaring housing boom of 2003-2005.