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It’s only the first day of spring, and 2012 has already been a historic year for Oregon consumers. We’ve seen the passage of a desperately needed package of foreclosure reforms, and now we begin the exciting endeavor of putting those protections in place.
One of the most important parts of the recently passed foreclosure bill is the implementation of mandatory mediation between homeowners, lenders and a neutral third party. While the basics of the program are set, the next three months will be spent figuring out the many details. You can read more about the process in a recent article by The Statesman-Journal.
One of the integral elements of ensuring the resulting program is well-suited to the needs of Oregonians is making sure that those who will be served by the program have a say in how it will work. Send us your thoughts on how a meeting between a lender and a homeowner would be most beneficial, and we’ll share those ideas with the stakeholders involved in creating the program.
Specifically, we would like to hear your thoughts on the following questions: What help or resources you would need to prepare for the mediation? What assistance would you want during the meeting? And, if you are a leader of an organization with ties to the community, what resources do you need to help get the word out about the mediation program?
Building bridges
 EFO was invited to give a presentation on the importance of consumer protection in a healthy economy to a group of European dignitaries visiting the U.S. as part of the State Department’s “U.S. Financial Systems and the Global Economy” program.
The foreign visitors were a mix of bank leaders and government officials. As you might imagine, the financial heads were skeptical about the value of consumer protection, which led to a lively debate among them, EFO and the pro-consumer government officials. We assured the bank executives that consumer protection and a healthy business environment do not need to be mutually exclusive – in fact, we strongly believe that history and experience have shown us that fostering an economy in which both businesses and consumers can thrive is a win for all involved.
It’s also interesting to note that many of them were shocked to hear about how the foreclosure crisis unfolded in America, particularly the numerous stories we shared with them about robo-signing, lost paperwork and general lender incompetence. As one Czech bank leader said: “Well, that’s clearly an issue of fraud, not consumer protection. The government should just put those people in jail and move on.”
Getting a global perspective on what passes for standard business practice in many of our country’s largest financial institutions was certainly eye-opening.
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Economic Fairness Oregon is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to consumer protection and fair lending laws. Our goal is to restore a financial system built to work for the people, not against them.
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On the web: www.economicfairnessoregon.org
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Phone: 503.236.6088
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