Foreclosure Prevention Measures

[kjackson227]

Texas ACORN Alert

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April 28, 2009

Contact: Michelle McClelen, [e-mail], [phone]


ACORN Action Alert - Foreclosure Prevention Measures Gaining Ground in Texas Legislature:


One in 10 Texas homeowners will face delinquency or foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

The Texas Legislature can take action to stem the tide of foreclosure in our state!

On Friday the Senate unanimously passed foreclosure prevention measure SB 472 (Estes/ Van de Putte) to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure:

Extends the foreclosure right to cure period from 20- 45 days
Requires lenders and mortgage servicers to alert borrowers of help available from HUD certified housing counseling agencies to avoid foreclosure
Requires lenders and mortgage servicers to make a representative with authority to modify the loan available to the troubled borrower.
ACORN wants to thank Senators Estes and Van De Putte for spearheading this important legislation, and Senators West and Lucio for working on key amendments to the bill. The bill now moves to the House. Below is coverage from the Houston Chronicle.

ACORN members across the state will be working hard over the next five weeks to ensure the strongest foreclosure prevention bill possible is passed in the Texas Legislature. Please support our campaign by calling your state senator and representative to ask for their vote to stop foreclosures in Texas!


THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6391126.html
Texans could get more time before foreclosures
Senate approves bill
By Janet Elliot


Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
April 25, 2009, 12:48AM

AUSTIN - Texans would have more time to fix their troubled finances before losing their homes under a bill passed Friday by the Senate.
Current law allows just 20 days for homeowners receiving a foreclosure notice to resolve their mortgage default, one of the quickest processes in the nation. The Mortgage Foreclosure Deferment Act would extend this notice period to 45 days.
It also would provide at least 14 days for an owner and 60 days for a renter to vacate a foreclosed property. If the bill, which now goes to the House, becomes law, it would apply to foreclosures initiated after Sept. 1.
One in 10 Texas homeowners are at risk of default and foreclosure, according to a recent report from the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
"Recent headlines tell the story that more Texans are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure," said the bill's author, Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls.
"This bill will give Texas homeowners more time to work with their lender to try and reach an accommodation to stay in their homes while meeting their financial obligations."
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said home-owners could use the extra time to work with nonprofit groups that help negotiate loan modifications.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office has cracked down on foreclosure rescue scams, recommended that the Legislature allow a debtor more time to cure a loan default before a notice of sale.
The bill requires a notice of rights to be included with the default notice. The lender would have to provide contact information for a person authorized to assist the debtor on the delinquent loan.
Owners who have received foreclosure notices would have to notify any tenants of a pending foreclosure within five days.
"While most homeowners may never feel the threat of home foreclosure, it is an issue that can impact all of us when it strikes our neighbors, friends and family," Estes said.


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[WolverineDG]

1. One of the things I love about Texas is the focus on homestead protection

I can't believe other states (even the Holy Blue States) allow creditors other than the mortgage company to put liens on your homestead & foreclose on you. Thank God for homestead protection! And yes, I voted against the home equity amendment to the Constitution. Texas may be behind in other areas, but I love the fact that keeping people in their homes is public policy. (but color me shocked that greg abbot is on the homeowners' side)

dg

[kjackson227]

2. I think we're doing a pretty good job in handling EVERYTHING...

in regards to mortgage, whether that be lending, foreclosure, homestead protection, etc. We're in a lot better shape than other states... you're right.

[sonias]

3. Two great things to point out

#1)ACORN has always been focused on home ownership and expansion of home ownership for all Americans. This is their primary goal and the main area they lobby and put resources into. They work in the communities to help people keep their homes. They were among the first to start warning Congress about the sub-prime predatory practices many years ago. Here's a story from 2007:

McClatchy News 8/31/07
Deceptive ads at bottom of sub-prime mortgage crisis
The center, part of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), helps thousands of low- and middle-income homeowners like Clemons fight back against predatory lending, which often begins with deceptive, targeted advertising.

Roughly 1 out of every 5 new home loans was sub-prime — targeted to people with very weak credit histories — during the boom year of 2005, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Over the past decade, the biggest jump in home ownership has been among low-income Americans, most of them minorities such as Clemons, an African-American. The Center for Responsible Lending of Durham, N.C., estimates that more than 50 percent of African-American homeowners have sub-prime loans, like Clemons, and about 40 percent of Hispanic homeowners do.
(snip)

Most deceptive ads featured loans for borrowers with spotty credit. They were given home loans with very low interest rates for one to three years, then the 30-year loans would adjust annually to rates that many borrowers couldn't afford. Advocacy groups also point to ads for option adjustable-rate mortgages as being rife with deception. These complicated loans typically have interest rates that adjust monthly and payment schedules that adjust annually.

#2)The Texas Democrats put a lot of the homeowner protection laws on the books. I'm happy to see this very modest expansion proposal get Senate approval. Senator Craig Estes is a Republican and he's the co-author of this bill with Senator Van de Putte.
Bi-partisan support.!

Let's hope it gets to the House quickly for a vote.

:applause:


Sonia

[kjackson227]

4. Yep, I'm pretty sure it will pass. My daughter (who works for Country Wide/Bank of America)...

was telling me yesterday how one particular homebuyer who she is working with wasn't told that she needed to include taxes in her mortgage escrow. This lack of information is going to increase that lady's monthly mortgage amount by at least $250 per month. Homebuyers really do need to inform themselves and attend workshops because a lot of lenders will not divulge all the information that the homebuyers need to know when purchasing a home. There's a lot that homebuyers and existing homeowners need to know also when refinancing, avoiding foreclosure, and/or taking out a line of equity on a home. These protection laws can help keep a lot of us out of hot water :)

[WolverineDG]

5. Texas has always been a debtor's haven

all the way back to the days of the Republic. My parents, Republicans as they were, were born & bred Texans nonetheless, & hated banks & bankers more than anything.

dg

[kjackson227]

6. I'm beginning to feel this way myself.