Salem, OR-  The Oregon Senate approved a bill Wednesday meant to clarify, streamline and add some teeth to the state’s foreclosure laws.

The 2008 session passed a vague, confusing SB 628, intending to reform Oregon's foreclosure laws.  Nice try, but the attempt to outline the process for applying for a loan modificatin and what steps were necessarry to carry on conversations with the lender offered up a confusing notification process and forms has proved to be counter productive.

The proposed SB 827 is an attempt to clarify the law and to give homeowners legal recourse under the state's consumer protection laws- the Unfair Trade Pracices Act, if there is a violation.

Oregon has been hit especially hard in this foreclosure crisis. According to the Department of Consumer and Business Services, the most recent numbers rank Oregon 27th in foreclosure inventory for all states and 13th in the nation for percentage of mortgages past due.

The bill will now be moved to the House for consideration.

In my view, many times this sort of legislation tends to make lenders less enthusiastic about doing business in the State- making it more difficult to obtain reasonable financing.  But for many people, anything the State can do to discourage politically incorrect business is paramount.  Laws and regulations in Oregon continue to discourage companies from coming to the State to do business-which reduces job oppportunities and contributes to a double digit unemployment rate.  Job destruction is the primary cause of high unemployment, which naturally increases loan defaults.

Additional loan modification options and tips is available on my site, http://www.portlandloanmodblog.com .