A proposed four-month foreclosure moratorium that would crank up the heat on lenders to rewrite more of California's troubled mortgages downshifted to the slow lane Monday.
Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, agreed to delay a committee vote on his plan to speed up the pace of loan modifications. Last week, he said he expected the committee and full Assembly to vote on it this week. The bill calls for a longer timeout than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Nov. 5 call for lawmakers to enact a three-month moratorium.
The governor's plan has yet to be introduced as formal legislation with less than two weeks left in a special session he called to address the state's budget and foreclosure crises. But Schwarzenegger's office said legislation to spur loan modifications remains a priority for the session.
On Monday, the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee turned Lieu's first hearing into what Chairman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, called "a larger conversation" about the mortgage crisis.
At the three-hour informational hearing, Republicans, Democrats, bankers, consumer activists and state regulators sparred as they have for nearly two years over specifics of keeping more struggling borrowers in their homes. But the debate played out this time as banks and the federal government are rolling out a series of plans to modify loans.
Late in the hearing, Nava referred to the debate as a stimulus for work "when we come back in January." Lieu's office said only that negotiations would continue.
Bankers warned that events might overtake California's efforts to legislate a solution.
"Now might not be the best time to lock in a specific formula," said Michael Gross, managing director for loan administration at Charlotte-based Bank of America.
Lieu's bill, co-authored by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass of Los Angeles, aims to pressure lenders with poor loan workout histories to do better. To avoid moratoriums, lenders would have to adopt workout guidelines like those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which aim to bring monthly payments below 38 percent of a borrower's income.
Lieu's proposal applies only to subprime and so-called non-traditional loans such as interest-only and pick-a-payment. Schwarzenegger's proposal covers all loans. The governor's plan would also exempt lenders that have modification programs in place.
California Department of Corporations Commissioner Preston DuFauchard said the Schwarzenegger administration deliberately limited its moratorium proposal to 90 days.
"We felt that over 100 days you're probably sending a message that it's OK to stop paying your mortgage, and we want to discourage that," he said.
Mike Belote, lobbyist for the California Mortgage Association, said that adding 120 days to the foreclosure process means some lenders might need 10 months to a year from the first missed payment to foreclose on a house.
Call The Bee's Jim Wasserman, (916) 321-1102. Read his blog on real estate, Home Front, at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
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