BILL NUMBER: AB 844	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dickinson

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to amend Section 2944.7 of the Civil Code, relating to
mortgages.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 844, as introduced, Dickinson. Mortgage loan modification.
   Existing law, applicable to residential mortgages, prohibits a
person who negotiates, arranges, or otherwise offers to perform a
mortgage loan modification or other form of mortgage loan forbearance
for a fee or other compensation from, among other things, demanding
or receiving any compensation until every service that the person
contracted to perform or represented that he or she would perform is
accomplished.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 2944.7 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   2944.7.  (a) Notwithstanding any other  provision of
 law, it shall be unlawful for any   a
 person who negotiates, attempts to negotiate, arranges,
attempts to arrange, or otherwise offers to perform a mortgage loan
modification or other form of mortgage loan forbearance for a fee or
other compensation paid by the borrower  ,  to do
any of the following:
   (1) Claim, demand, charge, collect, or receive any compensation
until after the person has fully performed each and every service the
person contracted to perform or represented that he or she would
perform.
   (2) Take any wage assignment, any lien of any type on real or
personal property, or other security to secure the payment of
compensation.
   (3) Take any power of attorney from the borrower for any purpose.
   (b) A violation of this section by a natural person is a public
offense punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars
($10,000), by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to
exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment, or if by a
business entity, the violation is punishable by a fine not exceeding
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). These penalties are cumulative to
any other remedies or penalties provided by law.
   (c) Nothing in this section precludes a person, or an agent acting
on that person's behalf, who offers loan modification or other loan
forbearance services for a loan owned or serviced by that person,
from doing any of the following:
   (1) Collecting principal, interest, or other charges under the
terms of a loan, before the loan is modified, including charges to
establish a new payment schedule for a nondelinquent loan, after the
borrower reduces the unpaid principal balance of that loan for the
express purpose of lowering the monthly payment due under the terms
of the loan.
   (2) Collecting principal, interest, or other charges under the
terms of a loan, after the loan is modified.
   (3) Accepting payment from a federal agency in connection with the
federal Making Home Affordable Plan or other federal plan intended
to help borrowers refinance or modify their loans or otherwise avoid
foreclosures.
   (d) This section shall apply only to mortgages and deeds of trust
secured by residential real property containing four or fewer
dwelling units.