Foreclosure legislation
Bills cater to banks
The Florida Legislature, rather than focusing on ways to keep families in their homes, is pushing for faster and more foreclosures with House Bill 87 and Senate Bill 1666. These bills reward banks that caused the problems in the first place.
Banks that play by long-standing rules and comply with established law have no trouble concluding foreclosures in a timely fashion. Likewise, our judges and court staff, if funded properly, can balance the goals of efficiency and upholding the integrity of our state’s legal system under the existing laws. It does not take an average of 853 days to complete a foreclosure in Florida, a figure that is produced by the banking industry and repeated by the Legislature in support of bank-friendly proposals.
Foreclosures bogged down because the banks lied to courts and to the American people. Industries that lie and cheat should not be rewarded by our state’s legislative body.
Finally, homeowner and condo associations, who suffer when homes are not filled with families paying fees, will not benefit because neither of these proposals can force banks to complete foreclosure cases when they choose not to.
Matthew Weidner, St. Petersburg
