Ecuador law would forgive mortgage debt Gonzalo Solano and Frank Bajak, Associated Press, Wed, May. 09, 2012 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/09/2791244/ecuador-law-would-forgive-mortgage.html
Ecuador's legislature has passed a bill that would require banks to forgive any outstanding debt on mortgages for first-time home buyers of properties worth up to $146,000 if they default and forfeit the home. The measure, aimed at discouraging a real estate bubble of the type that has caused so much pain in the United States and Europe, won praise from many Ecuadoreans on Wednesday. [...] Approved Tuesday evening by a 68-21 vote, the bill also covers loans by banks to first-time purchasers of automobiles that cost up to $29,200. [...] The law appears to be unique. San Diego State University economist Michael Lea, a real estate specialist, said the only similar measure he was aware of was the creation of a national housing bank by the leftist Sandinista movement in Nicaragua after it won power in 1979. [...] Pablo Davalos, an economist at Catholic University, said the move would be good for most Ecuadoreans. "This law is positive for the consumer and negative for the banker, who now has to increase his reserves and that means less liquidity and less profit for the bankers," Davalos said. [...] -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
