Released: August 22, 2007

California urged to help homeowners in foreclosure

Source: Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times (Free Registration)

Lawmakers and lenders called on the state’s troubled home mortgage industry Tuesday to step up efforts to help financially strapped Californians avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. But they stopped well short of endorsing calls from consumer groups for a moratorium on foreclosures - now at a 20-year high.

“Legislative efforts to intervene in the market are not the answer,” said state Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden), chairman of the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee. “They can cause befuddlement at best.”

Machado’s committee heard testimony from more than a dozen economists, lenders, consumer advocates and regulators about how California government should deal with a mortgage meltdown. 

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