LANSING – State Representative Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) today voted to create the Home Foreclosure Prevention Act, which requires lenders to make homeowners aware of programs and resources available to them to help avoid foreclosure. The act is another piece of a comprehensive plan attacking the subprime mortgage crisis in Michigan.
"One of the most important values in the American Dream is that every resident has the opportunity to own a home," Ebli said. "That dream is being shattered every day due to the foreclosure crisis affecting not only our state, but the rest of the country. The Home Foreclosure Prevention Act is a step in the right direction to resolving this problem, and helping Michigan families keep their homes."
The Home Foreclosure Prevention Act requires the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) to establish the Michigan Home Foreclosure Prevention Program, which will seek solutions to avoid foreclosures for certain subprime loans. The Act also requires lenders to send a written notice to borrowers at least 45 days before initiating a foreclosure. That notice must include options available to homeowners to help keep them in their homes.
Ebli and her colleagues previously passed the Michigan Home Loan Protection Act, which bans predatory lending practices such as making loans without requiring borrowers to prove their ability to repay them, and the "Save the Dream" package, which establishes programs to allow homeowners saddled with risky adjustable-rate mortgages and those who have missed mortgage payments to refinance and secure a fixed-rate loan.
Ebli and her colleagues' dedication to ending the foreclosure crisis in Michigan is already producing results – foreclosure filings in October were down 15 percent from a year ago. [1]
"The threat of foreclosure is becoming a grim reality for many families across our state," Ebli said. "This plan will not only give Michigan residents comfort in knowing that there are viable options available for them, but it is a sound solution to a growing problem. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass this legislation so we can continue working to create good-paying jobs now and get our economy back on track."