Virginia Lawmakers Revise Statute Prohibiting Upfront Fees By Loan Modification, Foreclosure Rescue Firms; Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

In Petersburg, Virginia, The Progress-Index reports:

• The General Assembly has passed a bill tightening the rules for companies that offer to help struggling homeowners. [...] Last year, the Legislature passed a law meant to stop widespread abuses in the foreclosure-rescue industry, including the practice of charging an upfront fee for services. However, because language in the law could be read to mean that it applied only if the home was sold, legislators returned to the issue this year.

• The revised law prohibits "the supplier of service to avoid or prevent foreclosure" from charging or receiving "a fee prior to the full and complete performance of the services it has agreed to perform if the transaction does not involve the sale or transfer of residential real property."

• The bill, which the state Senate passed unanimously Monday after the House approved it by the same margin earlier this month, now waits Gov. Tim Kaine’s signature.

For more, see Bill comes too late for local woman.