I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
While predatory lending is easy to spot in hindsight, consumers often don’t understand the mortgage loans they sign. Rep. Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) will hold an informational town hall meeting to help citizens identify predatory lending and the steps they can take to avoid foreclosure next Monday, Sept. 24, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Wayne.
Corriveau says, “predatory lending is not something you find specifically defined in Black’s Law Dictionary. It’s the kind of thing where you know it when you see it. It’s about taking advantage of people in a desperate situation or those who lack knowledge.”
Predatory lending occurs when borrowers don’t do their homework and trust someone who is not working in their best interest. “A lot of people rely on the person they are doing business with for accurate information. Like any business you have conscientious people and some who are not. It used to be the lender’s job to tell you that you couldn’t afford a mortgage. Now in a lot of cases their job is to get you the loan no matter what,” said Corriveau, a lead sponsor of the Home Loan Protection Act unveiled last month.
Corriveau expects the HLPA legislation to prohibit specific practices that have led to excessive subprime lending. These include financing of points and fees in the loan amount, prepayment penalties, balloon payments, negative amortization, and default interest rates. Also targeted, making loans without considering the borrower’s ability to repay–a practice responsible for many defaults and foreclosures.
Continued -Predatory lending has a broad impact on the economy. “People pay their mortgage first, even as interest rates reset on adjustable rate mortgages and their payments increase. That leaves less money available for retail goods. Then there is a deficiency in funding for schools as sales tax revenues drop,” said Corriveau.
Expressing reassurance, Corriveau said, “From a moral standpoint, you have the American dream begin taken away from people. We are going to work as hard as we can to keep people from losing their homes.”
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