Maryland Governor Calls For Ending Foreclosure Rescue, Starting Mortgage Servicer Monthly Reporting

(original post 1-14-08)
In Landover, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• Gov. Martin O'Malley announced a wide-ranging plan yesterday to confront an unprecedented rise in home foreclosures and combat predatory mortgage scams, including legislation to slow the minimum time for foreclosure from 15 days to more than four months. The Democratic governor proposed new requirements for brokers and lenders to ensure that borrowers can afford the mortgages, changes to the state's foreclosure process to make it more consumer-friendly, and a ban on the conveyance of property in so-called foreclosure rescue schemes. O'Malley's administration also wants Maryland to become the second state in the nation, after California, to require that loan servicing companies file detailed monthly reports about how many loans are in default and their efforts to help borrowers by refinancing or modifying the loan terms. State officials said there is a gulf between what servicers say they are doing and the actual assistance they are providing.

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• O'Malley outlined his plan at a news conference on the front lawn of Landover resident Velma Floyd, who almost lost her first home recently in a foreclosure rescue scheme, in which troubled homeowners refinance and are instructed to temporarily sign over the title of their homes. Floyd's broker is under investigation by state regulators and therefore wasn't named. "We just want to keep our home, and we want to help others keep their homes," Floyd said.

For more, see O'Malley unveils home aid (Plan is meant to halt surge in foreclosures).

See also, O'Malley Proposes Mortgage Reforms (The Associated Press):

• O'Malley's plan does not include new regulations for businesses that offer "Cash for Houses."

For the Maryland AG's warning on foreclosure rescue, see Foreclosure Scams: Don’t Fall Prey to a Foreclosure Shark!

Go here for a list of Maryland organizations that provide foreclosure counseling to consumers in every region of the state.

Go here if you're a Maryland resident and want to file a complaint with the state Attorney General.

For more on foreclosure rescue and equity stripping arrangements, generally, see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).