Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 70.djvu/859

 70

STAT.]

PUBLIC LAW

878-AUG.

1, 1956

803

which would cause such indebtedness to exceed $10,(X)0 but in no event may any loan be made which would cause such indebtedness to exceed $20,000. "(c) The terms of loans under this section, including any renewal or extension of any such loan except as provided in subsection (d) hereof, shall not exceed seven years from the date the original loan was made. " (d) No person who has failed to liquidate his indebtedness under this section for seven consecutive years shall be eligible for loans hereunder: Provided, however, That in justifiable cases where the Secretary finds that the inability of a borrower to repay his indebtedness under this section within seven years is due to causes beyond the control of the borrower, the Secretary may extend or renew such loans to be repayable in not to exceed ten years from the date the original loan was made, and during such extended term may make additional loans to such persons, if necessary," SEC. 3. Except insofar as they affect title III of the BankheadJones Farm Tenant Act, as amended, the following sections of title IV of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, as amended, are further amended as follows: (a) Section 41(g) is amended to read as follows: ci^mi" ^'"**"* °' " (g) Compromise, adjust, or reduce claims and adjust and modify ^ eoStat. io64. the terms of mortgages, leases, contracts, and agreements entered into ^ "^^ ^°^^' or administered by the Farmers' Home Administration under any of its programs, as circumstances may require: Provided, however, That— " (1) compromise, adjustment, or reduction of claims of $15,000 or more must be effected by reference to the Secretary of the Treasury or to the Attorney General pursuant to the provisions of section 3469 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 194); "(2) compromise, adjustment, or reduction of claims shall be based on a reasonable determination by the Secretary of the debtor's ability to pay and the value of the security and with or without the payment of any consideration at the time of such adjustment or reduction; "(3) releases from personal liability may also be made with or without the payment of any consideration at the time of adjustment of claims against— " (A) borrowers who have transferred the security property to other approved applicants under agreements assuming the outstanding secured indebtedness; and " (B) borrowers who have transferred their farms to other approved applicants under agreements assuming that portion of their outstanding indebtedness against the farm which is equal to the value of the farm at the time of the transfer, and borrowers whose farms have been acquired by the Secretary, in cases where the county committees certify and the Secretary determines that the borrowers have cooperated in good faith with the Secretary, have farmed in a workmanlike manner, used due diligence to maintain the security against loss, and otherwise fulfilled the covenants incident to their loans, to the best of their abilities; "(4) no compromise, adjustment, or reduction of claims shall be made upon terms more favorable than recommended by the appropriate county committee established pursuant to section 42 of this Act; and "(5) any claim which has been due and payable for five years or more, and where the debtor has no assets from which the claim could be collected and has no apparent future debt payment ability, or is deceased and has left no estate, or has been absent from

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