Announcement from DFI
Washington’s Foreclosure Fairness Act Becomes Effective July 22, 2011
If you conduct 250 or more foreclosures annually as part of your loan servicing activities, the new law may apply to you.
The Foreclosure Mediation Program was created during the 2011 legislative session to provide homeowner foreclosure assistance. State law now requires lenders to notify borrowers prior to foreclosure of the availability of foreclosure prevention counseling and the potential for mediation.
All lenders or beneficiaries are covered by the mediation requirement, except financial institutions that have conducted less than 250 foreclosure sales annually.
Homeowners are eligible if they:
- received a Notice of Default on or before July 22, 2011 and their owner-occupied house has not yet been sold at foreclosure sale or
- received the Notice of Pre-Foreclosure Options and requested mediation before the Notice of Trustee Sale was recorded
The law requires specific notices and disclosures. The Department of Commerce implements the law and has the required notices and disclosures available on their website.
DFI will examine licensees for compliance with the new law.
For additional specific program questions, you may contact the Department of Commerce via the following:
E-mail: foreclosuremediation@commerce.wa.gov
Telephone: (360) 725-3026
More information is available from the Washington Department of Commerce at www.commerce.wa.gov/foreclosures.
The law: Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 (PDF)*.
* This document is a PDF file, and you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you don't already have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you may download it for free from Adobe.
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