REQUEST FOR AB 512 LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR UPCOMING ASSEMBLY FLOOR VOTE !!!

- Key Mortgage Loan Disclosure Document -

Translation Requirement

Greetings Consumer, Housing and Immigrant Rights Advocates -

As many of us know, California is currently facing an ever worsening mortgage foreclosure crisis.

One reason for this is that a growing number of mortgage loans are increasingly being marketed and negotiated in languages other than English. Yet the final contract and all the other loan papers signed by borrowers are only in English. Negotiations are cemented at the closing table with a huge stack of English-only documents that borrowers do not understand, often including different terms than what the borrowers were originally promised, and sometimes accompanied by pressure from brokers and loan officers for the consumers to stop asking questions and just sign.

At best, this means many consumers may not understand the terms of the obligations they sign. At worst, unscrupulous lenders and brokers take advantage of borrowers who are not fluent in English. Loan defaults and property foreclosures are the unfortunate and increasingly common result. AB 512 seeks to address this issue.

AMENDMENT SOUGHT:

As we understand it, AB 512 (as of June 4, 2007) will seek to amend Cal. Civ. Code Section 1632 to require that:

1) First, a "summary loan term mortgage disclosure document" be translated into one of the five major CA languages (Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese or Korean), if the mortgage negotiations were conducted primarily in one of those languages; and

2) Second, mortgage brokers and lenders give this clearly identified, translated disclosure document to the borrower PRIOR to closing.

We need your letters of support for AB 512 (Lieber) faxed in asap for inclusion in the bill analysis that will be available to Assembly members before the floor vote (as early as Wed. 6/06 next week). In order for the list of supporters to be included in that bill analysis, we need your letters faxed in by Tues., June 5, 2007 by 5pm.

It is critical that the Assembly members see that there is real support for this bill BEFORE next week's vote takes place.

Also, if you if you know of people in your networks that would be interested in supporting this bill, please forward on this email with the attached sample AB 512 support letter and fact sheet.

Again, the deadline for faxing these letters of support addressed to Sally J. Lieber (the bill author) is THIS TUESDAY, JUNE 5th by 5pm.

Please fax your letter to the following:

--- The author, Sally J. Lieber, Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore

Fax: (916) 319-2122

--- cc: to Heidi Li at HERA so we can track our support letters

Fax: (510) 868-4521

Thanks so much for your support and your efforts to make a quick turnaround!