Senator recognized for her innovative solution to reduce home foreclosure crisis
State Senator Karen Tallian (D-Portage) was inducted as a member of The Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana at a ceremony on October 21. Tallian was invited to join the Society after the successful passage of her consumer protection law focused on reducing mortgage foreclosures in Indiana. The law provided a new direction in the legal process to help homeowners and lenders find alternative agreements to foreclosure.
The Society of Innovators celebrates the creativity and engages the diversity of Northwest Indiana by seeking out and rewarding individuals whose innovations have benefited the northwest region and enriched the region’s ongoing culture of innovation. The Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana was founded by Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana Northwest and includes members from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds including doctors, inventors, entrepreneurs, educators, and architects.
"The accomplishments of some of these members are awesome and truly reflect that our area is home to some fantastic creative minds,” Tallian said. “I am very humbled to be invited to join this group."
As a state legislator Tallian is known as an innovative thinker. In 2009, Tallian authored Senate Enrolled Act 492, which has helped homeowners avoid foreclosure when their loan is in danger of default by encouraging lenders and borrows to negotiate new mortgage loan terms and work out alternative agreements that do not include losing one’s home. The legislation provides a critical protection for consumers and has been a key part of a statewide, collaborative effort to help Hoosiers address the mortgage foreclosure crisis which includes the Mortgage Foreclosure Trial Court Assistance Project, administered by the Indiana Supreme Court. In the past eight months, 396 settlement conferences have been scheduled and 192 consumers were able to negotiate new loan terms and avoid foreclosure. Another 82 cases are still pending. It has been estimated that each averted foreclosure saves local communities and stakeholders at least $40,000. Using this figure, from March through October 2010, the project has saved Indiana residents more than $7.68 million.
Prior to the enactment of the legislation, lenders could submit a foreclosure filing and obtain an order directing the borrower to vacate the house, without offering the option of renegotiating the loan. The law authored by Tallian slows down the foreclosure process and requires lenders to provide homeowners with written notice of the loan’s pending default, along with an offer to schedule a settlement conference that will allow the two parties to negotiate options for a foreclosure prevention agreement. Under the new law, homeowners now must also be notified of their right to contact a housing counselor, such as the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network (IFPN), which helps homeowners understand their options when facing possible foreclosure.
For more information on Sen. Tallian, her legislative agenda or for updates on Senate activities visit www.senatedemocrats.in.gov.