For all workers, home ownership is a cornerstone of economic security. California’s working families are being devastated by the home foreclosure crisis. While tens of thousands are losing their homes, millions more are watching their home values plummet. Collectively, we are now at the lowest level of home equity since the Great Depression. As our economy enters recession, families are seeing their monthly mortgage payments double and triple. We must act now to help families facing foreclosure and to prevent this type of crisis from happening again. AB 1830 (Lieu) would reform lending practices to protect families from unscrupulous brokers and unfair mortgage loans. This bill would regulate sub-prime lending practices to protect families from being steered into riskier, costlier loans than they otherwise qualify for. Click Here And Send a Letter To Your Legislator Today, Urging Them to Support AB 1830!
This bill expands on the reforms outlined in SB 1137 (Perata), which was passed and signed into law in July. SB 1137 requires lenders to contact borrowers before they start the foreclosure process. This gives families a chance to try and modify bad loans before they lose their homes.
Over the past few years, more and more California borrowers have been persuaded to take out loans with exorbitant pre-payment penalties. Predatory lenders have steered them into high-cost loans, even when they actually qualified for lower, fixed-rate loans. Far too many families have ended up in loans they don't understand and can't afford.
No one wins with a home foreclosure; a family loses not only their most valuable asset, but the roof over their children's heads as well. The banks lose money from a short sale, and neighbors watch property values plummet. When a family is trapped in a loan they cannot afford, the best outcome is for everyone is a loan modification.
SB 1137 provides immediate protection to those who need it most. But this is just the first step in banning the abusive lending practices that created this crisis. California's working families, and our struggling state economy, simply cannot allow this sort of foreclosure freefall to happen again.
In order to prevent another foreclosure freefall, we must ensure that the abusive lending practices that fueled this crisis are eliminated. Please send a letter to your legislators today to express your support for AB 1830, and stop predatory lenders from taking advantage of California's working families.
Additional information:
Tips on Avoiding Home Foreclosure
California Reinvestment Coalition
Publications and Reports on Home Foreclosures
Contacts
- Angie Wei, Legislative Director (Workers' Compensation)
- Caitlin Vega, Legislative Advocate (Wage and Hour, Public Employees, Low Wage Worker Issues, Underground Economy, Right to Organize, Immigration)
- Jeremy Smith, Legislative Advocate (Family Leave, Worker Health and Safety, Offshoring, Election Reform, Labor Education, Green Jobs, Toxics in the Workplace)
- Emily Clayton, Policy Coordinator (Healthcare)
- Shawna Manning, Legislative Office Manager