FORECLOSURE DEFENSE


Hard working Connecticut families in increasing numbers are facing the prospect of home foreclosures due to drops in income or unemployment. The current homestead exemption of $75,000 per spouse/individual is unrealistically low in an environment where home prices have skyrocketed in the past several years.

It is time to protect Connecticut families from heartless and calculating financial entities who have little stake in the local economy, except to extract interest income from the citizens of our communities.

Many banks will not work out loans if a homeowner falls behind by 3 or 4 months. They will force the homeowner into a foreclosure and will not accept a partial resolution, but insist on full payoff instead. By doing this, the consumer is faced with debilitating legal bills and a more certain path to home loss.

Currently, foreclosure law provides for a 12-month restructuring, if you have never been in a foreclosure before. With the debt burdens most families bear, and with the prospect of increasing interest rates, the law is in many cases useless. Families cannot restructure, or are forced into expensive bankruptcy reorganizations.

• I would insist that we change our foreclosure laws to allow families FIVE years to restructure their mortgage arrearages, and that no limitation be imposed as to previous foreclosures. I would suspend interest from accruing on arrearages.

• I would work to outlaw municipal tax foreclosures. No city or town should run citizens out of their homes for want of tax money. No city or town should sell their tax receivables to mercenary moneylenders who then proceed to do the dirty work for that city or town.

• I would also work to have the homestead exemption increased to the FULL value of one’s residence. This means that creditors would not be able to take people’s homes away.

It is time that we protect the homeowners of this state from the financial predators who make windfalls from the distress of hardworking families. If we protect our residents’ homes from the Corporate moneylenders, we will be protecting the value of all our homes and ensuring that Connecticut is a place to seek shelter, comfort, and family security.