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[0] REMARKS BY FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE AT A PBS "NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER" TOWN HALL MEETING MODERATOR: JIM LEHRER, HOST, PBS "NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER" LOCATION: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI TIME: 7:00 P.M. EDT DATE: SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2009 (Part 6).

Article Excerpt
MR. LEHRER: Jason Wood has a related question.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Jason Wood. I work with United Way around our 2-in-1 system in getting homeowners to access housing counselors.

I think my question is more in light of the report from the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston in regards to some of the monies that have been released to help homeowners and more importantly, the money that's been given to servicers. The report stated that the money maybe would have been better used if it had been given to the actual homeowners rather than the servicers. I'd like to get your commentary and what your thoughts are in regards to that.

MR. BERNANKE: Yes. First let me say that I'm glad to see you doing counseling work. We found that having a counselor helps the borrower work with the bank, raises the probability of success quite considerably, so keep up the good work.

The report you're referring to was a research paper done by some Federal Reserve economists. It doesn't represent an official position of the Federal Reserve. It's just a research paper. But it addresses the fact that we don't have much experience with dealing with a foreclosure waive like this, and we don't really know necessarily what the best way is to address it. And their proposal is, instead of trying to...