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Home Foreclosure Crisis can be Stopped! Support S. 2636 in the Senate Vote

Target: U.S. Senate
Sponsored by: AARP Foundation

Thanks to years of reckless and abusive lending practices, foreclosure rates are skyrocketing. This nationwide crisis threatens some of America's most vulnerable citizens, their neighborhoods and entire communities, and our national economy.

The Senate will vote soon on the Foreclosure Prevention Act (S. 2636). If passed, this commonsense solution will allow victims of abusive lending who are facing foreclosures to stay in their homes while they work through the bankruptcy courts to repay the debt.

By passing the Foreclosure Prevention Act, we'll not only be helping over 600,000 families stand up to abusive lending companies, but we'll be helping entire communities facing lower property values, and the economy overall.

Urge your Senator to support S. 2636, the Foreclosure Prevention Act, today.

deadline: 2-24-2009
goal: 20,000

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Dear Senator [Name],

I am supportive of S. 2636, the Foreclosure Prevention Act, and in particular want to emphasize our support for Title IV, which would allow families in bankruptcy to modify their home mortgages through the courts. This provision is a commonsense solution that will help families save their homes without any cost to the U.S. Treasury, while making sure that lenders recover at least what they would have in foreclosure.

Abusive lending practices and slumping real estate markets are causing hundreds of thousands of American families to lose their homes to foreclosure. As devastating as foreclosures have been to date, the worst is yet to come. Foreclosures are expected to accelerate dramatically during 2008, when interest rates are scheduled to rise on a large number of loans.

This nationwide crisis affects not only individual families, but neighborhoods, entire communities, and our national economy. One solution to this serious problem is to give people on the brink of losing their homes more flexibility to restructure their loans in bankruptcy. This solution would not let people "off the hook" in paying their full mortgages; it would simply allow them to work with a judge to figure out how to pay what they owe while staying in their homes. The bankruptcy safety net that permits loan modification to save a yacht, vacation home, commercial real estate or family farm currently is not an option for a family seeking to save a primary residence. In a manner that is both fair and also urgently needed, S. 2636 would eliminate this inequity in the treatment of American homeowners.

It should be understood that the narrowly crafted remedy contained in S. 2636 does not reopen the Bankruptcy Act of 2005. Rather, it addresses 1978 bankruptcy legislation that excludes loans for primary residences from those loans that may be modified in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. At that time, mortgage loans were nearly all fixed-interest rate instruments with low loan-to-value ratios and were rarely themselves the source of a family's financial distress. This is no longer the case. Preventing the modification of home loans for primary residences makes no sense in an age of subprime exploding ARMs where the mortgage itself causes financial crisis.

While the various voluntary programs that the industry has announced in recent weeks and months are a welcome acknowledgement of the magnitude of the situation, they do nothing to negate the urgent need for this legislation.

[Your comment here]

I applaud you and your colleagues for addressing the foreclosure crisis with the urgency it deserves. I support the court-supervised modification section of S. 2636 and urge speedy passage of this urgently needed reform.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

We signed the “Home Foreclosure Crisis can be Stopped! Support S. 2636 in the Senate Vote” petition!

# 34,054:

2:33 pm PST, Feb 3, Shelley Mathes, Rhode Island
It is time the government focused on the problem at hand in the mortgage foreclosure crisis in the US, which has displaced so many families and individuals, tenants alike. Stop the bailout without tight restrictions and changes made on Wall St and Insurance, auto industries. Help Small Business owners. I am a Realtor in Newport RI

# 34,053:

5:05 pm PST, Jan 31, Susan Allan, Rhode Island

# 34,052:

8:25 am PST, Jan 29, Richard Havens, Florida

# 34,051:

5:01 am PST, Jan 29, Deana Tolleson, Alaska

# 34,050:

10:14 pm PST, Jan 28, Name not displayed, Rhode Island
ouR MOST VULNERABLE FAMILIES DO NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THEM TO GET ANY HELP. THE SYSTEM IS BOOGED DOWN AND THERE ARE NO REAL ANSWERS TO ANYONES QUESTIONS

# 34,049:

9:59 pm PST, Jan 28, Koa Lab, Rhode Island
When do we get our bailout or help!!

# 34,048:

9:57 pm PST, Jan 28, Patricia Arruda, Rhode Island
WE NEED HELP and answers !!

# 34,047:

9:49 pm PST, Jan 28, Name not displayed, Rhode Island
We need this passed to save our neighbors and friends

# 34,046:

10:17 am PST, Jan 28, Aphrodite Norton, Massachusetts

# 34,045:

7:48 am PST, Jan 28, Lucas Binette, Rhode Island
The families need a bail-out. The good working people. The foundation of this country! They put the money into the pockets of wealthy executives who have turned their backs on the little guy and are destroying this country.

# 34,044:

6:45 am PST, Jan 28, Carlena Massa, Rhode Island
save the homes of rhode island and the families who need them

# 34,043:

7:09 pm PST, Jan 27, Danielle Johnson, Rhode Island

# 34,042:

7:24 am PST, Jan 27, Name not displayed, Rhode Island
PLEASE pass this bill! There are far too many people affected by this crisis. Thank you.

# 34,041:

4:21 am PST, Jan 27, Joy & Gerry Stewart, Rhode Island

# 34,040:

4:00 am PST, Jan 27, David Adams, Massachusetts

# 34,039:

8:17 pm PST, Jan 26, Veronica Zepeda, California
My family is losing our home due to Countrywide unscrupulous lending. Now we have to suffer. We have four children one whom is autistic please help our family

# 34,038:

8:08 pm PST, Jan 26, Rory Koliscz, Rhode Island
My sister and her family are a victim of a mortgage scam. They are hard working long time home owners who believed the wrong people. Now they are in the fight of their lives. It is very difficult to see family work so hard for so long and to loose it. The protection needs to be available for people who are being abused and victimized by the predatoy lenders who have the law in their favor. Their is nothing to protect the average person, it is a nightmare!!

# 34,037:

8:03 pm PST, Jan 26, John-Paul Binette, Rhode Island
Read my wife's comments please

# 34,036:

7:59 pm PST, Jan 26, Linda Binette, Rhode Island
My thoughts don't stop at this point. I have owned a home since I was 26. Married at 19 still married at 40. Always worked a full-time job. Never missed a mortgage payment in 12 years. I have lived the American Dream-up until now! In 2006 my husband and I decided to build a home on land that we purchased in 1996 and paid off in 2005. We were very proud! We worked hard and built a beautiful home. We put our three children in a small 600 sq foot apartment for two years, to do so. We jumped into two interest-only loans to enable us to build a home while owning another. Naive of us we wanted to keep the original house. I was afraid to let it go. My childhood was spent in that house, my grandparents bought the property in 1963 and my husband and I purchased it in 1996. One house and one lot. Our dreams died on August 20, 2008. Despite my hours of effort and work Wilshire credit, co. foreclosed on the original house. We had tried to sell the house couldn't and continued to rent it out. The house had several issues. We did everything that Wilshire asked of us; paid off a $15,000.00 home equity line. Paid off the taxes. Paid off the water and fire bill. These were their loan modification conditions. We had a tenant faithfully paying rent. We just needed a break with the loan. Our main concern was our credit. We saw years of hard work vanishing before our eyes. The original foreclosure date was set for April 19, 2008. We went to file for bankruptcy and Wilshire quickly tried to work out a modification with us they began persistently calling us. We were thrilled! Since they had advertised the April 19, 2008 foreclosure notice and gone through the proper channels they had "legally" informed us of their intentions. We decided that because we had virtually no credit card debt that we WOULD NOT FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY and work out a loan mod with Wilshire. I spoke with them up to three times a week in April, May, June, July and August of 2008. On August 20, 2008 they foreclosed. A neighbor informed us we did not even know. I contacted Wilshire and they back peddled. No one had an answer it was heart wrenching. Ten days later Wilshire had a sleezy person show up at the house and told my tenant that she had 10 days to leave. We had to call the Police. We had to hire an attorney to protect our tenants rights, putting us further into debt. You see the "interest-only" loans were running out and reality was that refinancing and never ending property values had ended! We were stuck we begged everyone. Never in the 12 years of being home-owners had our property values ever decreased. We are happy to have our new built home???? The mortgage is high but bound and determined to keep it my husband and I work and put everything into this mortgage. This mortgage also a "temporary fix" we are now unable to re-finance this loan because our credit is now ruined because of the foreclosure. We went to RI Housing in August of 2008. We have paid every cent of our mortgage payment. GMAC the morgage company for the new house started paying bills for the other house mistakenly. They put forced place insurance on the property. They told us we were over $6,721.00 in debt to them for our escrow. After several notices and calls to them the problem remained un-solved. We continued to pay our mortgage. In November 2008 our home-owners insurance notified us that our insurance was to be cancelled we paid $473.00 (three weeks before Christmas) we deducted it from the mortgage since they are supposed to pay! GMAC sent back our November payment. Two days before Christmas we received a pre-foreclosure notice. They used the negative escrow debit and told us to pay up. We called up the attorneys again, paying them with what we got back from GMAC as a retainer. I luckily had saved everything. My attorney told us on the 15th of January that GMAC was wrong and that they have essentially wronged us. This friday the 23rd of January 2009 we received a foreclosure notice for March 10, 2009. I truely believe that these mortgage companies are benefiting from foreclosing on homes. I am seeking the advice of a bankrupty attorney at this point! I do not feel that the mortgage companies care, or want to work out anything. They have my former house on the market for $218,000. Our modification was going to knock the balance down to $255,000.00. A family member offered to purchase the house for $237,000.00 they refused?!?!?!?! Now with my new home that I live in right next door we are facing the same kind of tragedy if we don't DO SOMETHING! GMAC I feel is essentially trying to steal my home. I know it may sound paranoid, but....after my last experience it just makes no sense at all. Why? These companies lie to you make promises, leave you hostage for months and then ultimately win!! I am sick that no one has done anything to help the millions of people like us in this situation. I feel that now I have no choice but to file for bankruptcy. We need to be heard by the court. Our stories need to be told. We are not all unworthy, irresponsible people who borrowed money that we did not intend to repay. The mortgage brokers always made you feel like this was going to be a way of life. We were safe and happy in a nice fixed 6.5% interest for 9 years. We belived that we would always have a way out-a refinance. We never intended for this to happen. We NEED THIS PROTECTION BECAUSE WE ARE BEING VICTIMIZED BY MORTGAGE COMPANIES WHO HOLD ALL THE CARDS, our lives are being destroyed!

# 34,035:

5:04 pm PST, Jan 21, Suratun Hassan, Georgia

# 34,034:

8:43 am PST, Jan 21, Malik Abdul-hassan, Georgia

# 34,033:

7:28 pm PST, Jan 7, Sarita Stewart, Virginia

# 34,032:

12:53 pm PST, Dec 29, Beth Richman, New York

# 34,031:

11:28 pm PST, Dec 20, Name not displayed, California
I AM A good citizen who have been paying my mortgage regularly even if it comes to cutting my expenses. Would I get a chance to lower my Principal because of this act and would it be OK morally for me to use my neighbors tax money who is paying and not foreclosing like me?. If this act becomes realty then every citizen will think he is an Idiot to give away the money to reckless people and rather foreclose his home.

# 34,030:

1:57 pm PST, Dec 17, Ashley Calderon, California

# 34,029:

6:25 pm PST, Dec 1, Name not displayed, New Hampshire

# 34,028:

10:24 am PST, Nov 26, Karla Espinal, Texas

# 34,027:

4:02 pm PST, Nov 22, Eleanor Navarro, Arizona

# 34,026:

11:13 pm PST, Nov 15, Marvin Rodriguez, Texas

# 34,025:

10:51 am PST, Nov 7, Theresa M Kelly, South Carolina

# 34,024:

7:08 pm PST, Nov 6, Aloki Patel, Connecticut

# 34,023:

7:16 pm PDT, Nov 1, Sabina Martinez, California

# 34,022:

2:53 am PDT, Oct 28, Brenda Vandee, Michigan

# 34,021:

9:49 pm PDT, Oct 15, Nicholas Rushin, Pennsylvania

# 34,020:

8:14 am PDT, Oct 6, William Ainsworth, California

# 34,019:

8:40 pm PDT, Sep 25, Rudy Milchak, Arizona

# 34,018:

10:10 am PDT, Sep 18, Matthew Humphrey, Maryland
Ordinary people deserve protection from abusive lending practices.

# 34,017:

3:27 pm PDT, Sep 5, Litsa Xydis, Illinois

# 34,016:

8:56 pm PDT, Sep 2, Denise Black, Florida

# 34,015:

1:45 am PDT, Sep 1, Stephanie Calero, Florida

# 34,014:

3:48 pm PDT, Aug 27, Vicki Shaffer, West Virginia

# 34,013:

10:23 am PDT, Aug 26, Andre Holcomb, California

# 34,012:

2:57 am PDT, Aug 19, Name not displayed, New Jersey
we are all just trying to get by, we have families, there should be a way to work things out rather than just pushing us out the door...with no place to go....servicing companies wont help you..then you find out through another summons someone else has your mortg. who do you talk to? and it all costs money ....doing the best we can to keep the roof over our head provide neccesary needs ....food...water, electric...and then we have gaas prices up there to....makes it even harder just to get to work.

# 34,011:

7:57 pm PDT, Aug 4, Sandra Porter, New York

# 34,010:

7:59 am PDT, Aug 4, Christy Price, Kentucky

# 34,009:

8:24 pm PDT, Aug 2, Thom Robinson, Florida

# 34,008:

12:03 pm PDT, Jul 27, Linda York, Washington

# 34,007:

6:59 pm PDT, Jul 24, Andy T, South Carolina

# 34,006:

4:01 pm PDT, Jul 24, Name not displayed, Texas

# 34,005:

9:11 am PDT, Jul 16, Erin Schuch, Ohio

# 34,004:

2:47 pm PDT, Jul 10, Name not displayed, Missouri
Familes need this protection due to our econonmy and the cost of living. We are one of those families whom are struggling to keep our home, I feel there needs to be something to protect families this has become a crisis and the stress on families is horrible. People should not have to worry about losing there homes there has to be some kind of protection.

# 34,003:

7:59 pm PDT, Jul 1, Name not displayed, Illinois
We all need help. Prices are out of control!

# 34,002:

5:18 pm PDT, Jun 28, Rebecca Ellis, California

# 34,001:

6:54 pm PDT, Jun 24, Shannon Cowett, Virginia

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Home Foreclosure Crisis can be Stopped! Support S. 2636 in the Senate Vote

This petition has been closed.