URGENT ACTION NEEDED – Vote in Senate on Wednesday, June 6th!

Posted on June 5, 2012 by MAAPL

Please Call your State Senators on Tuesday, June 5th to support 3 critical amendments to the Foreclosure bill that was just voted out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee today!

Legislation that includes these amendments would really make a positive difference to those facing foreclosure and their communities. The Senate must act NOW if we are likely to see any relief for homeowners in the next two years!

Facts:

  • Petitions to Foreclosure (the first step in the formal foreclosure process) are up 47% over this time last year.
  • Recent figures show property values dropping again, putting Massachusetts with the fourth highest percentage of homeowners with underwater mortgages in the entire country.
  • If there are no major policy changes, Massachusetts will face another 100,000 foreclosures before this crisis is over!

Right now, we need calls to your Senator! Ask them to co-sponsor and vote for…

  1. Mandatory Mediation (Senator Chandler’s amendment)
  2. Prevent Unnecessary Vacancies – allow homeowners to rent post-foreclosure (Senator Eldridge’s amendment)
  3. An amendment with critical fixes to the Attorney General’s bill, including:
  • Protecting a homeowner’s ability to legally challenge foreclosure, use of Federal standards for eligibility for loan modifications, address the lack of proper notifications to homeowners, and block new loopholes allowing banks to avoid modifications, and
  • Mandatory Mediation, so homeowners can start the process before foreclosure to help get a sustainable loan modification.

We need people to make calls all day on Tuesday through Wednesday morning! Please help by making your call today and helping us spread the word about this important opportunity to amend the Foreclosure bill!

PLEASE FORWARD THE NEED FOR CALLS

In addition to Calls, the following Actions are planned:

  • Tuesday at 3pm: Press Conference on the State House steps
  • Tuesday at 6pm: Rally, singing, group debrief of bills, and plan for Wednesday. You can bring people food for the night!
  • Stay tuned for further actions on Wednesday!

About MAAPL

The Mass. Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) is a coalition of over 60 housing counseling agencies, legal services groups, social service agencies, and community-based social action groups that have joined together to address the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts. MAAPL collects and distributes timely information on the foreclosure crisis and its effects to the public and to its member groups, drafts and supports legislation that provides important protections to homeowners and tenants facing foreclosure and eviction, documents the impact of the foreclosure crisis on local communities, networks with related organizations throughout the Commonwealth, and provides tools and information to help people navigate the legal system and advocate on their own behalf more effectively when challenging a foreclosure or eviction in court
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