ANAHEIM, CA—State Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) has joined a coalition of organizations to protest home foreclosures by Countrywide Financial Corporation and call for an immediate freeze on interest rates and pending foreclosures.

“I am pleased to stand by members of our community to oppose the excessive amount of foreclosures that are currently occurring throughout the state and the nation.  The high interest rates are making more and more homes unaffordable and becoming financial strains to our working families.  In Orange County, our working families are faced with a double whammy, high home prices coupled with spiking interest rates,” said Assemblyman Solorio.

Last Tuesday Assemblyman Solorio, the Mexican American Political Association, the Greenlining Institute, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and residents who have lost their homes held a rally protesting the foreclosures at the Countrywide Financial office in Santa Ana.

The coalition is committed to continue public actions in different cities throughout California during the remainder of 2007 and demands that Countrywide’s investors and shareholders step up to the table and demand accountability and transparency.

Assemblyman Solorio supports a proposal put forward by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair that encourages lending agencies to keep subprime mortgage borrowers at their initial interest rate if they are living in their home, making timely payments, but can’t afford the loan “re-set”—or jump to a higher rate.

Last week the Assembly leadership unveiled a legislative package that seeks to curb foreclosures by enacting a number of important reforms including:

• Identifying at-risk borrowers and determining what lenders have done to assist them;

• Banning prepayment penalties that essentially prevent borrowers from refinancing;

• Ending incentives and kickbacks that spur lenders to push subprime loans onto prime-qualified buyers;

• Increasing counseling that can protect consumers from bad loans and help them find potential avenues for keeping their homes; and

• Toughening income verification regulations and requiring lenders to consider an applicants ability to repay over the life of a loan.

It is estimated that Countrywide alone will foreclose on 10,000 homes in Orange County and at least 50,000 home statewide before Christmas.  Countrywide is the largest sub-prime originator of home loans and is the leading seller of risky, exotic, adjustable rate mortgages that have led to the foreclosure crisis.

As reported in the New York Times, Countrywide has one of the worst records in the nation in preventing foreclosures though what is known as loss mitigation practices.

Assembly Democrats have established a website that will provide resources to troubled borrowers, as well as, provide others with an ongoing update of the crisis and its impact on California. It can be found here: http://adc.asm.ca.gov/issues/MortgageCrisis.

Assemblyman Jose Solorio is the chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and also serves on the Assembly Education, Transportation, and Appropriations Committees.  He represents the Sixty-Ninth Assembly District, which includes the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana.  For more information about Assemblyman Solorio, you can visit www.assembly.ca.gov/solorio.