Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy's language calling for improved credit counseling practices was included in H.R. 3221, the American Housing and Foreclosures Prevention Act, the most comprehensive response yet to the American mortgage crisis.

The House-passed measure will help prevent more mortgage foreclosures, keep American families in their homes, aid local communities hit hard by foreclosures and strengthen the economy by shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the nation's most important financial institutions.

"American families need relief now and we can not risk a worsening of the current housing crisis through inaction," said McCarthy.

The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act will allow hard-working American families in danger of losing their homes to refinance into lower-cost government-insured mortgages they can afford to repay - at no cost to the American taxpayer.

Additionally, McCarthy's amendment ensures that funding will be targeted to organizations that provide early outreach, in-person counseling, and ongoing consultation to those at risk of foreclosure. The amendment will encourage credit counseling organizations that already have relationships with loan servicers to expand their outreach efforts to homeowners who are behind on mortgage payments.

"Statistics show that over 50 percent of the borrowers in default will not contact their lenders and resort to foreclosure instead. If we provide homeowners with the right amount of information, assistance and outreach, we will succeed in saving millions of homeowners from foreclosure," said McCarthy.

In addition to Rep. McCarthy's language, the bipartisan bill also includes provisions to:

• strengthen neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis by providing resources to allow cities and states to buy up and rehabilitate foreclosed properties that are currently driving down home prices, reducing state and local revenues, and destabilizing neighborhoods;

• expand homeownership opportunities for veterans and helps returning soldiers avoid foreclosure and stay in their home;

• provide tax breaks to spur home buying; and

• create a new fund to boost the nation's stock of affordable rental housing in both rural and urban areas for low-and very low-income individuals and families.

Finally, the bill provides the Department of the Treasury with emergency and temporary financing authority for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are important institutions that hold or guarantee nearly half of all mortgages in the United States.