Justin Jones, (D) D-9, is putting forth a home owner’s bill of rights in the legislature.

The bill can be viewed here. You can track this and other bills (a certain number for free) by creating an account at the Personalized Legislative Tracking website.

Below is a quick overview of the major parts of the bill. Remember, I’m not an attorney and this is a quick skim of what the bill says. Readers are encourage to seek legal advice regarding foreclosures.

• The servicer, mortgagee, or beneficiary shall send a notice to the (owner occupied) home owner at least 30 days after a default. The notice shall show the total amount to reinstate the mortgage or bring it into current status, amount of the principal balance, date of the last full payment, current interest rate, date of any future interest rate changes, amount of prepayment fee, telephone number and email to obtain more information from said servicer, and contact information for counseling agencies.
• The borrower may request a copy of the promissory note, deed of trust, assignment of the mortgage (paper trail showing ownership), and all forms of foreclosure prevention alternatives.
• A servicer, mortgagee, trustee, etc. may not record a notice of default or notice of sale until section 10 has been satisfied, they have called the borrower 3 time at different hours on different days, they have created a website with foreclosure alternative options, and the website has a list of borrower documents needed for foreclosure alternative and a toll free phone number.

I’d love to see someone try to put together a timeline of all these requirements.

• The servicer may not dual-track a person pursuing a foreclosure alternative. Meaning, the servicer can’t run the foreclosure process in the background.
• The servicer is not required to evaluate a borrower who was previously evaluated for a foreclosure alternative before 10/1/2013 (unless there are changes to the borrower’s situation). No second chances I guess.
• The borrower gets a single point of contact from the servicer. Already, required by the National Mortgage Settlement.
• The borrower of a judicial foreclosure may have the right to foreclosure mediation.

Overall, the bill is pretty fair as most of the requests are for documents the bank should have and contact information that should be public. Though the bill is getting a little gray on whether or not the servicer, lien holder, etc. “has” to evaluate a borrower.

What do you think of the bill?

Below is video of Justin Jones and John Ralston going over the bill on Ralston Reports.