By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
Lansing, MI – State House Democrats and the Senate GOP found middle ground Wednesday on foreclosure legislation that would give homeowners 90 days to work with lenders.
Foreclosure bills have travelled back and forth from the House and Senate for a couple months. Democrats wanted to include the threat of court proceedings as incentive for lenders to work with homeowners. Republicans argued the only group benefiting from the courts was trial lawyers.
Both parties made compromises -- leaving the courts in the legislation, but adding enough criteria the Senators say it would exclude more than 90% of the foreclosure disputes from getting that far.
Democrat State Representative Andy Coulouris sponsors the legislation. He says avoiding more foreclosures is not a partisan issue: "This is a victory for homeowners," he said. "The real victory here is that we have a process in place to facilitate loan modifications in the state of Michigan that we didn't have before."
The bills passed through the House and now go to the Senate.