California Government Relations Rally Will Focus on Mortgage Bills

California’s real estate problems have resulted in a flood of mortgage-related bills that are well intentioned but ultimately bad for credit unions, said Bob Arnould, California Credit Union League senior vice president of governmental affairs. The league’s Government Relations Rally is scheduled for April 14 and 15 in Sacramento.“When we have everyone here in Sacramento, we’ll communicate the message of how we’ve been good community players all along, and we continue to be out there as, in some cases, a community’s sole lending source,” he said.Director of State Government Affairs Melissa Ameluxen said California credit unions were pleased with last year’s comprehensive foreclosure bill, which she said “went a long way to solve a lot of California’s foreclosure problems.”“However, this year, we have a number of new bills that would go much further,” she said. Proposed bills allow tenants to remain in foreclosed properties longer, levy new fines on lenders who don’t properly maintain vacant properties and prohibits lenders from charging a fee for loan modifications, even if the borrower qualifies for refinancing.Ameluxen said the loan modification fee measure attempt to curtail efforts by attorneys to profit from loan modification programs.“There are a lot of bills trying to get at the bad actors in mortgage lending but while doing so, they inadvertently pull in credit unions,” she said. –[email protected]