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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 7 A look at facts you didn't know you couldn't live without. Compiled by the DS News Staff TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE NUMBERS D ATA B I T S There were approximately 89,400 foreclosure starts nationwide in December 2014, a decline of nearly 21 percent from November and 14.7 percent from December 2013, according to Black Knight Financial Services. Approximately 1.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage nationwide (552,000) were in some stage of foreclosure in December 2014, a decline from 2.1 percent in December 2013, according to CoreLogic. HOUSE VOTES TO DELAY KEY PROVISION OF DODD-FRANK ACT PAGE 22 INSIDE THE JOURNAL // MOVERS & SHAKERS // ON THE WEB // THE APP SPECTRUM Source: CoreLogic (as of December 2014) FIVE MINUTES WITH Congressman Randy Neugebauer TOP 10 STATES IN COMPLETED FORECLOSURES FOR 2014 1 Florida 118,009 2 Michigan 48,822 3 Texas 35,147 4 California 29,350 5 Ohio 27,698 6 Georgia 27,173 7 North Carolina 20,909 8 Pennsylvania 19,340 9 Illinois 18,075 10 Indiana 15,328 State Completed Foreclosures Ranking TOP 10 STATES WITH THE HIGHEST SERIOUS DELINQUENCY RATE 1 New Jersey 9.0% 2 Florida 7.9% 3 New York 7.3% 4 Maryland 5.8% 5 Mississippi 5.6% 6 Connecticut 5.5% 7 Maine 5.5% 8 Rhode Island 5.5% 9 Nevada 5.4% 10 Delaware 5.2% Ranking State Serious Delinquency Rate With the Republican majority now in place, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in mid-January to pass a bill that eased some portions of the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, according to multiple media reports. e bill passed by a vote of 271 to 154, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. Nearly all of the Republican representatives (242 out of 246) voted in favor of the bill. e White House threatened to veto the bill if it should pass. A key part of the new bill delays the implementation of part of the "Volcker Rule," a key piece of the Dodd-Frank Act that limits risky trading by financial institutions. e portion of the Volcker Rule delayed by the new bill had previously been put off by the Federal Reserve until 2017. e new bill gives financial firms another two years (until 2019) to sell off collateralized loan obligations, or bundled debt. Financial industry lobbyists pushed for the further delay, which will keep them from having to sell off their investments in a fire sale. e new bill will also allow some private equity firms an exemption from registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, relax derivative regulation, and permit the omission of historical financial data in filings by some small, publicly traded companies, according to reports. Republicans have promised to take aim at the Dodd-Frank Act since they gained a majority in both the House and Senate in November's elections. e Dodd-Frank Act was passed in response to the financial crisis, and it was intended to protect consumers and prevent another similar economic downturn. However, Dodd-Frank opponents believe the legislation embodies overregulation and as a result has had the opposite of its intended effect. Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), one of Dodd-Frank's fiercest backers and the creator of the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have vowed they will fight against any attempts by Republicans to chip away at Dodd- Frank. e new bill moved through the House quickly but is not likely to gain the Senate support needed to override a presidential veto. 19TH DISTRICT OF TEXAS, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES "The bill passed by a vote of 271 to 154, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. Nearly all of the Republican representatives (242 out of 246) voted in favor of the bill. The White House threatened to veto the bill if it should pass."

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