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By Elizabeth Martinez
Miami, FL-Despite the attempts made in the last two years with new state laws and the implementation of loan modification federal programs, unnecessary foreclosures are still very common today.
According to RealtyTrac, U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for July, 1 in 397 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing during that month. In California, the situation was also regrettable with 1 in 200 foreclosed homes. And Sacramento was even worse: 1 in 156.
Lending industry lobbyists are out in force at the state Capitol. They're attempting to kill a bill that could help right California's struggling housing market. The Senate, however, stood up to the lending industry, passing Senate Bill 1275 on a 21 to 12 vote in June.
Senate Bill 1275 (by Sens. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento) is supposed to address two things:
• Prohibit loan servicers from starting the foreclosure process until a homeowner has received a final decision on a modification.
• Allow homeowners whose homes were wrongly sold through foreclosure to pursue legal claims against servicers.
Opponents argue that the bill is unnecessary because the federal Home Affordable Modification Program already prohibits foreclosure while a modification application is under review. Yet, borrowers continue to get foreclosure sale notices even if they have a loan modification application under review, or have been paying on a trial modification. This proves that this system has not been working to help the struggling homeowner. Furthermore, this program has no penalty for noncompliance.
Unfortunately, according to the U.S. Treasury's July report, it is all too rare to find permanent loan modifications that could keep people in their home. Reports show that there have been 421,804 nationally, 94,356 in California, and 7,194 in the Sacramento metropolitan area,
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