FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: October 15, 2010

CONTACT: Maureen Thompson

(703) 276-3251 mthompson@hastingsgroup.com

AFR Statement on the Foreclosure Crisis

Washington, DC – Americans for Financial Reform, an unprecedented coalition of more than 250 national and state organizations working together for strong financial reform, issued the following statement today:

“The recent – and continuing – uncovering of large scale lawlessness in the mortgage and foreclosure process reinforces what communities and families have been seeing as they struggle to recover from economic crisis.  Lenders and servicers have failed to live up to their legal obligations, and to their obligations under the HAMP program, putting families who want to find solutions that allow them to pay mortgages and stay in their homes on the path to foreclosure.

This cannot be allowed to continue. It is the lenders’ and servicers’ own actions that have now created overwhelming uncertainty in the system. The answer cannot and must not be to ignore the problems – or trust those who created them to self certify correction – and leave homeowners and communities continuing to bear the price of both the terrible recession which these same banks recklessness caused, and their illegal policies and procedures.   We must have a solution that defends families, communities, and the law.

What we need immediately is a temporary moratorium on foreclosures, to stop pushing foreclosures through a broken system, and get to the bottom of the problem.  Such a moratorium should only be a brief step on the way to a new process that requires lenders to follow the law, and to provide mortgage solutions that allow families to keep paying their bills, stay in their homes, and rebuild equity. “

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