Bush/Paulson Plan is a Lump of Coal for Working Class Families, Says NTIC

CHICAGO, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Training and
Information Center (NTIC) who released a study on Monday documenting new
foreclosures in Chicago during the first half of 2007 (www.ntic-us.org) says
that the Bush Administration's proposal does nothing to help families facing
foreclosure right now.

According to reports, the plan covers only subprime adjustable rate loans
issued from January 2005 to mid 2007 that will reset to higher rates starting
next year through 2010.

In Chicago alone there were 6,339 foreclosures started in the first half of
2007 (a 42% increase over the same period in 2006) according to the NTIC
study. "The Bush/Paulson plan is another drop in a really big bucket. Few,
if any, of the families facing foreclosure this holiday season will be helped
by this plan," according to George Goehl, NTIC's Executive Director.

The Bush/Paulson plan is voluntary for the industry. Lenders and servicers
get to decide whether or not they work with families to help them save their
homes. "Making this plan voluntary is like asking a crook to turn themselves
in. With this meltdown of the subprime market, the mortgage industry has
proven that it cannot self-regulate," said Inez Killingsworth, President,
Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People, Cleveland. "It is time to get
serious about helping homeowners and saving the economy from a further
meltdown. This just redlines everybody who is in trouble right now."

NTIC launched the Save the American Dream campaign
(http://www.savetheamericandream.org) earlier this year, calling for immediate
relief to keep families in their homes by freezing interest rates on subprime
ARMs and modifying loans on owner-occupied homes so they are permanently
affordable. The campaign also calls on the President and Congress to expand
the Community Reinvestment Act so that all mortgage originators are regulated
by the same high standards, as well as comprehensive protections for
homeowners and criminal penalties on any broker or lender that knowingly
engages in abusive lending practices.

Currently, over 250 activists, industry and government officials are meeting
in Chicago at NTIC's National Housing and Banking Summit to hammer out
solutions to the foreclosure crisis. On Friday, December 7, Rev. Jesse
Jackson will be joining the summit and echoing the need for immediate action
for families in foreclosure now.

The Save the American Dream Campaign (savetheamericandream.org) is an
aggressive foreclosure prevention campaign of the National Training and
Information Center to curb the wide-spread effects of foreclosure on
individuals, neighborhoods and the economy. NTIC is a 35 year-old network of
community organizations that is dedicated to community organizing as a means
of creating a more just and equitable society. NTIC is made up of 22 affiliate
organizations in 10 states and works with 50 additional allied organizations
from across the country.

SOURCE National Training and Information Center

Daniel Espinosa of the National Training and Information Center,
+1-773-606-6441