OAKLAND, CALIF. – California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law SB 818, a bill to restore key provisions in California’s landmark “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” (HBOR) legislation which passed in 2012 in response to the foreclosure crisis. HBOR has prevented thousands of avoidable foreclosures by requiring mortgage loan servicers to engage in timely, fair and transparent process with struggling homeowners before proceeding to foreclosure. The bill’s sponsor is Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), who introduced the bill after concerns that HBOR has been weakened by the 2017 legislative sunsets.
Center for Responsible Lending California Policy Director Graciela Aponte-Diaz released the following statement:
Restoring these important safeguards will help families save their homes from unnecessary foreclosures. Homeowners need protection against procedural abuses—this bill helps us accomplish that goal. With federal threats in Congress and at the CFPB to rollback important mortgage protections, the need to have a strong HBOR is paramount—and in California, we have the strongest HBOR in the country. We thank Senator Beall for his leadership in making homeownership a top priority and the California Legislature for their decisive action to push this bill forward.
For more information, or to arrange an interview with a CRL spokesperson on this issue, please contact Ricardo Quinto at ricardo.quinto@responsiblelending.org.