Five Big City Mayors Urge States To Pass Philadelphia-Based Mediation Model To Stem Foreclosures

Reuters reports:

• Mayors from five U.S. cities called on Thursday for states to pass laws that would require mortgage lenders to negotiate with borrowers who are threatened with foreclosure. The mayors of New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis and Oakland, California, said mandatory mediation offers the best hope of stemming a national foreclosure crisis that led to an 18 percent surge in foreclosure filings in May compared with a year earlier.

• The mayors aim to follow up on a year-old program in Philadelphia that brings lenders and borrowers together under court supervision, and has allowed more than 70 percent of participating homeowners to remain in their homes.

For more, see US mayors urge states to require mortgage mediation.

In a related story, WNYC 93.9 FM reports that New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg offered this gem as a way to accelerate the number of successful loan modifications between lenders and homeowners facing foreclosure:

• "Maybe you lock them in a room with a big pot of coffee and no bathroom and that will get them to pretty quickly come to an agreement. That's the only way you're going to get people to agree."

Source: Mayor Backs Foreclosure Mediation Bill.