Congressional proposal might only benefit firm that was subject of probe
A proposal moving through Congress that rolls back protections for mobile home buyers would almost exclusively benefit Clayton Homes, a company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, according to The Seattle Times.
The bill, which was passed by the House last month and will be considered by the Senate Banking Committee this week, would reverse rules put in place as part of a sweeping financial overhaul in 2010 known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
The proposal would raise the interest rates permitted on some mobile-home loans before they trigger extra protections for borrowers such as pre-loan counseling. The bill also would let mobile-home salespeople work closely with buyers to arrange financing.
Related: Warren Buffett's mobile home empire preys on the poor
Clayton Homes, the mobile home giant owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, controls 91 percent of the market that would be deregulated under the bill, according to an analysis of 2013 federal loan data by the Times.
A recent investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and The Seattle Times found Clayton borrowers faced high interest rates, excessive fees and predatory sales practices.
“There’s something wrong with legislation that would benefit any one company,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told the Times. The ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Waters said she has grown wary of Clayton’s practices and suggested the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should investigate the company.
Related: U.S. House rolls back safeguards for mobile-home buyers
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
