The Oregonian ran a pretty good article this past Saturday on measures the State of Oregon is taking to assist and protect homeowners facing foreclosure or trying to modify their current loans. In the short term, Oregon Attorney General, John Kroger, issued some temporary rules, effective immediately, that include loan servicers under the unlawful trade practices act.
Previously, banks, lenders and funders had operated outside these rules; giving them certain protections. These new rules give homeowners and the state the ability to hold mortgage servicers accountable. But, these rules really only help those who have already been wronged, and especially those in some sort of legal action; the minority of distressed home owners. Yes, I suppose the rules also act as a bit of a hammer or deterrent encouraging loan services to behave.
More interesting to the average distressed homeowner, are the homeowner protections one hopes the lawmakers will consider in the upcoming legislative session. Mortgage reform and foreclosure protections are hot buttons that pit the strong banking lobby against home borrowers and distressed property owners, with the legislators in the middle; a place they don't relish. This may at partially explain why some of the measures below, or their predecessors didn't get full consideration in the last legislative session. In Saturday's Oregonian article, by Brent Huntsberger, lists the following bills expected to be considered:
" House Bill 4137 would add more specific requirements for servicers to follow, including deadlines to respond to borrower inquiries and limits on fees.
Senate Bill 1564 would bar lenders from putting a homeowner in a trial modification program and foreclosing on their home at the same time, the so-called dual-track process.
Senate Bills 1552 and 1576 and House Bill 4140 would require lenders to mediate with homeowners before foreclosing, as Washington, Delaware and Nevada do."
So I say "yay" for Attorney General Kroger for taking these short term measures by creating these temporary rules. But the folks in Salem must not be intimidated into inaction by the power and emotion surrounding the foreclosure issues. Get to work.
Oh, and for some perspective, the Oregonian article cites CoreLogic's statistics that 2.88% of mortgages in Oregon were in foreclosure in October (the most recent numbers available) and 5.65% were considered delinquent.
If you have questions about the foreclosure process or short sales please get in touch.
The full Oregonian Article
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