A Florida Republican this week reintroduced legislation to speed up the foreclosure process for the third consecutive year, even though similar legislation has sparked outrage from consumer advocates over the last two years.
State Rep. Kathleen Passidomo (R) is touting the new bill as a “more moderate” version of the legislation that has failed each of the previous two years, the Miami Herald reports. But while it includes some provisions proposed by homeowner advocates, it still reduces the the time banks have to process a foreclosure from five years to one, a problematic “fix” that could incentivize more fraudulent processing of foreclosure documents:
Passidomo’s bill aims to speed things up. It requires mortgage lenders to certify that they have the correct paperwork proving they have the right to foreclose. The measure includes a provision that consumer activists supported last year to limit banks’ ability to go after homeowners for additional debt after a foreclosure.
Banks currently have five years to pursue a so-called “deficiency
judgment” against a homeowner. The bill reduces that time-period to
one-year.
The average Florida foreclosure, the Miami Herald notes,
takes more than 600 days to process. But even though Florida has more
foreclosures than most other states, that length is hardly atypical.
Nationally, homeowners with mortgages worth less than $250,000 are in
default for an average of 611 days before they enter foreclosure.
Borrowers with mortgages worth $1 million average 792 days in default
before foreclosure begins.
