Overview

By now, most of us have heard about the mortgage lending crisis—and the big spike in foreclosures—that’s dragging down our economy. While there is plenty of blame to go around for the mortgage meltdown, there are a couple of things we can all agree on. We need to take action now to prevent the next crisis, and we need to get rid of abusive lending practices.

If you work hard and save money, you should be able to buy a house- it’s part of the American dream. But in California consumers are not as protected from unsound lending practices as they should be.  

We need to protect homeownership by making sure brokers act in the interest of their clients, requiring lenders to honestly assess a borrower’s ability to repay, and getting rid of unreasonable fees and penalties. Unbelievably, the mortgage lending industry is fighting these reforms tooth and nail.

What’s more, we haven’t even seen the worst effects of the mortgage meltdown here in California. With more than 500,000 homes in danger of foreclosure in the next year we need to make sure there are regulations in place to ensure something like this never happens again. All of California will suffer for the irresponsibility of the mortgage lending industry.