WASHINGTON, D.C. -- ACORN National President Maude Hurd said Wednesday’s private meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Federal Reserve Gov. Randall Kroszner was very successful.

The Federal Reserve leaders met privately with 35 ACORN members for more than an hour discussing ways to curb the foreclosure crisis.

“They agreed to look into our concerns and agreed to set up further meetings,” Hurd said. “We felt that progress was made, and we’re hopeful the federal government will institute measures that will help prevent hard-working families from losing their homes.’’

Bernanke invited the group to meet after ACORN staged rallies outside Federal Reserve Banks across the nation on June 6 demanding regulations of sub-prime loans.

ACORN members recommended that the Federal Reserve use its authority under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) to issue regulations that will protect families from predatory lenders. Specifically, ACORN called on the Feds to:

• Stop the abuse of stated-income loans

• Prohibit lenders from making adjustable rate loans that quickly become unaffordable when the rate increases

• Ban prepayment penalties on all subprime loans

• Require that subprime lenders include the taxes and insurance in the homeowner’s monthly payment.

Also on Wednesday, ACORN released a set of reports that highlight neighborhoods nationwide with the highest rates of foreclosures. ACORN, which has a long history of fighting for fair lending practices, recently kicked off a national campaign to address the foreclosure crisis.

The group is conducting a large scale outreach program to find homeowners at risk of losing their homes due to predatory loans, and to organize these homeowners to fight back to save their homes.