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Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) is fighting to stop the nation's first state-wide foreclosure mediation program from expiring at the end of the year. The program has saved more than 3,300 borrowers from foreclosure.
"Having a family uprooted and moved does no one any good," Duff said.
The foreclosure mediation program began as a voluntary arbitration process between lenders and borrowers in danger of losing their property. High success rates encouraged the state to make the program a mandatory part of the foreclosure process.
Duff said, "Originally lenders were opposed to it but now they are coming around and are some of the biggest proponents of the program."
Duff is featured in a new podcast on the Senate Democrats website. He discusses the benefits of the program and the efforts to keep it alive past the end of the year. Continuance of the mediation program is a priority of the Banks Committee and the governor's office according to Duff.
The level playing field created by the program ranks chief among its benefits. Lenders can generally afford legal teams to protect their interests. That privilege seldom belongs to borrowers facing foreclosure.
Funding for the mediation program is culled from the banking fund. Banking institutions pay into the fund as part of their operating expense.
Duff said he thinks the market has bottomed out and areas like Westport and Norwalk are in a better position than most of the nation to recover. Aside from sitting as co-chair of the Banks Committee, Duff works as a realtor for William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty.
"It is still tough times out there for people and the worst is not over," Duff said,
Duff's podcast is available for download or streaming at www.senatedems.ct.gov.
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