20 percent down payment an unlikely reality

Remember the proposed requirement from six federal agencies that home buyers make minimum 20% down payments if they want the lowest interest rates?

Remember the controversy that erupted over the plan last spring, when labor unions joined with bankers, civil rights groups, mortgage companies, realty agents and consumer advocates to get it changed?

A bipartisan group of 39 senators and more than 250 Democrats and Republicans in the House even signed letters demanding that the agencies ditch the proposal on the grounds that it would be harmful to a housing market mired in deep trouble.

Proposed 20% down payment requirement faces political hurdles