Press Releases

Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the California Foreclosure Reduction Act today inLos Angeles. The bills, AB 278 and SB 900, are designed to reduce unnecessary foreclosures in the state and were critical pieces of Attorney General Kamala Harris' Homeowner Bill of Rights. "These common-sense protections have had an uphill battle to the governor's desk," said Paul Leonard, California Director of the Center for Responsible Lending. "But after three years of trying, allCaliforniahomeowners will now have meaningful protections to prevent wrongful foreclosures." AB 278 and SB 900 contain provisions

Both houses of the California Legislature today approved the Foreclosure Reduction Act, a bill designed to reduce unnecessary foreclosures in the state. The bill is the centerpiece legislation of Attorney General Kamala Harris' Homeowner Bill of Rights. "This is monumental," said CRL California Director Paul Leonard. "For the past three years, the legislature has said 'no' to making the foreclosure process fairer for consumers. Today, they finally said 'yes.'" AB 278 and SB 900 contain provisions that will end "dual track" in mortgage servicing, requiring that servicers provide loan

A housing bill introduced in the Senate could more than double the number of homeowners who refinance under a federal mortgage program and also more than double their potential savings, according to an estimate by researchers at Columbia University. To be eligible, homeowners must have a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and be current on the payments. Researchers at The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School estimate that streamlining refinances would increase the total number of homeowners who refinance under the existing Home Affordable Refinance Program

Legislation Will Level the Playing Field for Borrowers Across California, and Ensure That All Borrowers Get Full and Fair Consideration for Loan Modifications Six weeks of negotiations between banks, the bipartisan legislative conference committee, the Attorney General and consumer groups have produced a Homeowner Bill of Rights that deserves to pass both floors of the Legislature and be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown as soon as possible. The Homeowner Bill of Rights will prevent unnecessary foreclosures without putting undue burden on banks by implementing the following key provisions modeled on

More than 80 percent of California homeowners who received modifications in 2010 stayed current and avoided re-default despite the continued recession, according to a new Center for Responsible Lending analysis. These new data indicate that the Homeowner Bill of Rights is critical for large numbers of borrowers, their communities and the overall California housing market. The legislation, which has undergone six weeks of intense negotiation with banks, legislators, the Attorney General and consumer groups, would ensure that borrowers in owner-occupied homes applying for loan modifications get

The remedies are deeply inadequate in fundamental ways. The money will too often be too little too late, particularly for borrowers who were wrongfully denied loan modifications. The federal bank regulators continue to withhold too many details from the public, when transparency would be to everyone's benefit. Further, the Sept. 31 st deadline to apply for compensation for borrowers who believe they were wronged is too soon. It should be extended through year's end, especially since a large mailing was just sent out saying the deadline is July 31. The regulators did get one thing right: They

Californians need Attorney General Harris' Homeowner Bill of Rights to fix mortgage lending abuses and speed economic recovery. But lobbyists fighting it in Sacramento have now enlisted mortgage bankers from around the country to help them defeat it. (Read the e-mail sent by the Mortgage Action Alliance, the Mortgage Bankers Association's national e-advocacy division.) The MBA urged members nationwide to "Stop the Damaging Unintended Consequences of Sweeping California Legislation," and oppose common-sense protections of the Homeowner Bill of Rights, a legislative package modeled on the recent

California's dire budget situation claimed a new casualty in the governor's May Revise yesterday: $410 million in bank penalty funds from the National Mortgage Settlement intended to assist California homeowners.The governor instead proposed to use the funds to reduce the state's deficit rather than to help borrowers access settlement programs. Attorney General Kamala Harris worked for well over a year to reach an acceptable settlement with banks who had harmed California homeowners with robo-signing and other mortgage servicing abuses. The $410 million in penalties paid by five big banks had

Credit card losses in the current downturn mounted faster at banks using unfair, deceptive card practices, new CRL research finds. That's because high-cost penalty fees and interest rates were not used to mitigate risk—as credit card issuers claimed—but instead were the risk that led to higher default rates. Read the report, " Predatory Credit Card Lending: Unsafe, Unsound for Consumers and Lenders ." In addition to showing that practices that hurt consumers also hurt credit card issuers, the study finds: Bad practices are a better predictor of consumer complaints and an issuer's losses during

Missourians hope to vote in November on a proposal to limit the interest rate on payday, car title, and installment loans. If successful, Missouri will be the fourth state in four years to approve a reduction of interest rates on payday loans from 400% annual interest to 36% or less. The other states include Montana, Arizona, and Ohio, and in each of them voters approved an end to 400% interest rates by a two-to-one margin. Missourians moved one-step closer to their goal on Sunday, May 6, by submitting hundreds of thousands of signatures from across the state in support of reining in high-cost