Crist hopes to get foreclosure agreement next week
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ Gov. Charlie Crist met Tuesday with a top banking official and said afterward that he wants to secure an agreement from lenders for a voluntary moratorium on foreclosures at least through the holidays.
Crist said he hoped he could announce something next week. His meeting with Florida Bankers Association president Alex Sanchez came a day after Crist disclosed he was considering such a moratorium.
Florida had the third highest foreclosure rate in the nation last month. In Nevada, one in every 74 homes received a foreclosure filing in October. In Arizona it was one in every 149 housing units and in Florida one in every 157 homes.
Sanchez, whose group is Florida’s largest and most influential banking lobby, said lenders are willing to restructure loans for homeowners but not speculators.
“Anyone who’s behind in payments please contact your bank ASAP. The banks will work with you to keep you in your home,” Sanchez said after the meeting. “If you have three Lexuses or three Mercedes in the driveway, we can do nothing to help those folks.”
The governor said if a moratorium is put in place, it would be up to lending institutions to determine what to do when it expires.
“But at least during the holidays I think it’s important that we show compassion to Florida families as much as we can,” Crist said.
Many Floridians already are covered by a moratorium announced last week by two of the nation’s biggest home mortgage lenders. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they are temporarily halting foreclosures and evictions during the holiday season. They will resume foreclosing after Jan. 9.
Crist was still unsure if he could compel foreclosures to stop through an executive order or whether it would take an act of the Legislature, but he said he would prefer that lenders do it voluntarily.
“That’s why I wanted to meet with Alex this morning and get an opportunity to take their temperature on their willingness to help us out, help Florida out,” Crist said.
Crist agreed the moratorium may be limited to owners of primary homes, known as homesteads.
Sanchez said speculators and those who bought homes hoping to quickly “flip” them for a higher price helped fuel Florida’s housing boom that’s now going bust.
“There’s no sympathy for that guy,” Sanchez said. “That didn’t help our state.”
The governor answered media questions about his private talk with Sanchez during an open meeting with Myron Rolle, a Florida State University football player who has been named as a Rhodes scholar. Crist, a Florida State graduate, signed a football and presented it to Rolle.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.