Tell Your Senators: Pass the Foreclosure Prevention Act

The federal government has stepped in recently with bailouts for the big Wall Street firms like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs...so where's the help for regular Americans? This economic crisis will likely have enormous impacts on real people; analysts anticipate that two million American families will lose their homes over the next two years, and 40 million of their neighbors will see their home values decline due to projected foreclosures.

Unfortunately, very few homeowners who cannot pay their mortgages will be able to sell or refinance; loan servicers who could modify loans to make them more affordable just aren't doing so in sufficient numbers. Unless Congress takes action quickly, these families will lose homeownership, surrounding neighborhoods will lose property value, and the entire economy will suffer.

In the coming weeks, the Senate will take up S. 2636, "The Foreclosure Prevention Act." This legislation would provide comprehensive remedies to the current foreclosure crisis by providing greater resources for foreclosure counseling, allowing bankruptcy judges to modify loan terms for principal residences, and extending tax-exempt bonds to be used to refinance subprime loans.

In particular, S. 2636 would eliminate an inequity in the bankruptcy code that currently grants protections for vacation homes, yachts and family farms but denies borrowers similar protections for their primary residence. More important, this provision of the bill would help low- and moderate-income families save their homes, without any cost to the Treasury, and ensure that lenders recover at least what they would in foreclosure.

Use the form at right to send a message to your Senators and urge them to support S. 2636, "The Foreclosure Prevention Act."

(For more information about the Foreclosure Prevention Act and the broader issue of predatory lending, please visit the web site of the Center for Responsible Lending.)

Your message will be sent to:

Your Senators
cc: Your Congressperson

Subject:

(Edit Letter Below)

I strongly urge you to support S.2636, "The Foreclosure Prevention Act," which would provide strong, comprehensive legislative remedies to the current foreclosure crisis.

In particular, S.2636 would eliminate an inequity in the bankruptcy code that currently grants protections for vacation homes and family farms but denies borrowers similar protections for their primary residence. More important, this provision of the bill would help low- and moderate- income families save their homes, without any cost to the Treasury, and ensure that lenders recover at least what they would in foreclosure.

Additionally, the "Foreclosure Prevention Act" would provide $200 million in additional funding for foreclosure prevention counseling. Across the country, nonprofit housing counseling agencies are seeing a dramatic increase in the demand for their services since trouble in the housing market has left many families with few options. This additional funding would assist housing counseling agencies provide more specialized post-purchase assistance to distressed borrowers, including delinquency counseling and foreclosure prevention.

Finally, S.2636 would provide incentives to states to re-finance subprime loans and to localities to address neighborhood blight as a result of widespread foreclosures.

For all the above reasons, I urge you to support passage of S.2636 and oppose any amendments that would weaken this bill.  I look forward to your response to my letter.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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