Report: Arizona slow to respond to foreclosure crisis
April 17th, 2008, 11:40 am · Post a Comment · posted by mistywilliams
An estimated one in every 18 Arizona homeowners will face foreclosure in the next two years, according to a new study by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
But while Arizona has one of the highest projected foreclosure rates, the state has been slow to respond to the problem, compared with other more proactive states, such as North Carolina and Ohio, the report states.
Nationwide, the nonprofit organization estimates one and every 33 homeowners will be in foreclosure over the next two years.
Some states have been quicker to experiment with solutions than others.
* Maryland recently extended the foreclosure process from 15 to 150 days.
* Ten states, including Minnesota and North Carolina, have banned most prepayment penalties.
* North Carolina, as well as Colorado, Maine and others, now require lenders to assess a borrower’s ability to repay an adjustable-rate loan after the teaser rate has ended.
* Nine states have established loan funds to help refinance borrowers with loans they can’t afford.
* A total of 13 states, including Arizona, have counseling hotlines.
The list goes on.
In 2007, Arizona created a foreclosure task force. The state also has a consumer hotline and education campaign, the study shows. What Arizona doesn’t have are laws relating to high-cost loans or foreclosure intervention, which others states do. The study also names Florida and Utah as states that have been slower to react to the crisis.
Still, it remains unclear whether the measures being taken by other states will be successful and to what extent.
