Residents, officials fight foreclosures
By Jennifer Mitchell
Westshore
Published Nov. 8, 2006

Bonnie Bank Boulevard residents in Rocky River, or B-3 as some of them call it, recently made quite a stir over a couple of abandoned neighborhood houses in foreclosure.

B-3 dwellers banded together, spoke at City Council meetings and public hearings and even created a Web site to keep everyone up to date on the neighborhood’s progress. Their goal was to bring back the safe, clean, child-friendly streets they believed they had purchased homes in.

The results that followed their efforts may have been more than even they expected. Both houses have since been sold, the city is keeping a close eye on the properties to make sure they are maintained up to code. County programs that help those on the brink of losing their homes have gained publicity and, at the state level, and the Homebuyers’ Protection Act will be enacted in January that aim to prevent foreclosures from ever happening.

The state is currently seeking comment on concurrent proposed administrative rules by Attorney General Jim Petro.

The rules contain information on methods loan officers, mortgage bankers, and nonbank mortgage lenders can utilize in determining a consumer’s ability to repay a loan, and whether a consumer received a reasonable, tangible net benefit from a refinanced loan. 

These rules also require loan officers, mortgage brokers, and nonbank mortgage lenders to disclose certain information when a consumer applies for a loan and at the closing of the loan. 

Other topics covered by the new administrative rules include debt collection agreements, reasonable tangible net benefit, reasonable probability of payment, unconscionable terms in home mortgage loans, distribution and receipt of home mortgage loan information document and limitation on advance payments.

“Rather than being punitive, it talks about best practices and kind of raising the bar for everyone,” Rocky River Mayor Pamela Bobst said of Petro’s plan.

As for how she thinks it will affect her community, she said, “Obviously, it’s very positive.”

She said she looks at it from two vantage points: She doesn’t want city residents to be impacted by predatory lending. Also, if there is a situation where predatory lending leads to foreclosure, it creates a major concern in the affected neighborhood, like it did on Bonnie Bank.

Petro’s office has invited the public to speak on the plan. He will hold a public hearing at 2 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Lobby Hearing Room of the Rhodes State Office Tower, 30 E. Broad St. in Columbus. For those who can’t speak in person but would still like to be heard, the office is accepting written comment. Send it no later than Nov. 15 (next Wednesday) to Shaun Petersen, Office of Attorney General, at 30 E. Broad St., 14th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215.

Copies of the proposed administrative rules are available at the Attorney General Web site, www.ag.state.oh.us, or by calling Petersen at (614) 466-1306.

To learn more about Cuyahoga County’s Foreclosure Prevention Program, visit the Web site, www.dontborrowtroublecc.org. United Way plays a major role in the program with its 2-1-1 First Call For Help Line. Any borrower whose primary residence is in Cuyahoga County, who wants to stay in their home and who has the means to maintain a payment plan for their loan is eligible to receive counseling and advice through the Foreclosure Prevention Program. These borrowers are asked to dial 2-1-1 to be referred to the appropriate counseling agency.