For Release: Immediate
Monday, September 15, 2008

Contact: Jim Manion
(609) 292-5215

GILL-RUIZ BILL - "SAVE NEW JERSEY HOMES ACT OF 2008" - ENACTED

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Nia H. Gill and M. Teresa Ruiz to protect homeowners caught up in the subprime mortgage crisis as well as those threatened by foreclosure was signed into law today by Governor Corzine.

The new law is called The Save New Jersey Homes Act of 2008.

“This new law reflects our intentions to help residents stay in their homes while they make good-faith efforts to keep their financial commitments,” said Senator Gill, D-Essex and Passaic.

Under the new law, S-1853/A-2780, eligible borrowers from state-chartered financial institutions could get three-year extensions to continue paying their introductory rates on variable-rate mortgages while still being required to ultimately pay off the higher charges before transferring the title to their homes.

“This law is a recognition that the homeowners with the determination to keep paying for their homes shouldn’t just be thrown out of them,” said Senator Gill.

The new law will require creditors to notify those threatened with foreclosure about the protections enacted by the Legislature to enable them to get extensions and keep their homes.

The two Democratic senators noted that New Jersey, particularly in its urban centers, has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation with one realty tracking group claiming foreclosure actions in the State rose 66 percent in the first quarter of this year and the Department of Banking and Insurance listing more than 12,000 homes in foreclosure for the same period.

“This new law will help both borrowers and lenders because it will require continued payments of initial mortgage rates and, ultimately, all deferred interest,” said Senator Gill. “That will help decrease housing being abandoned in situations where desperation prompts people to just stop making mortgage payments.”

The law will expire January 1, 2011.