BY BEN CARTER

“HB 470 is dead,” the text said. As an attorney who has represented hundreds of homeowners since the foreclosure crisis struck Kentucky in 2008, I breathed a sigh of relief.

House Bill 470, likely to be back in next legislative session in some version, would have removed the protection of judicial oversight from the majority of foreclosures.

When the bill was filed, consumers, consumer advocates (led by the Kentucky Equal Justice Center), and consumer attorneys across Kentucky mobilized to explain to legislators why removing judges from the foreclosure process would be so harmful to homeowners facing foreclosure.

So, I was surprised to see Ballard Cassady, president and CEO of the Kentucky Bankers Association, claim that “Kentucky bankers are the only ones concerned with protecting consumers.” This statement is as self-absorbed as HB 470 was self-serving for the mortgage servicing industry.

While KBA claims that it would allow…

Bank of America is one bank that is not one of the sharpest knives in the drawer when it comes to hiring the best employees. This takes the cake…

• STEVE KOVACH

I was on a business trip in Barcelona, Spain, for a week, so I was a bit behind on errands and other life stuff.

Like checking my mail.

On Sunday, I finally caught up and checked my mail for the first time in about six days.

The first letter I opened was this one from Bank of America, where I have checking and savings accounts:

The second letter I opened was another one from Bank of America apologizing for the first letter and assuring me I’m still alive.

Source: Business Insider

If I missed a scheduled payment to a bank, I would probably get hit with a late fee. Credit bureaus would receive a delinquency report. If I continued to miss the payment, debt collectors would harass me at all hours with phone calls. They might take me to court and get a judgment against me that enables them to garnish my wages or my taxrefunds. If the debt was secured — i.e., backed by a piece of collateral — the creditor could initiate proceedings to take that collateral away from me. In the case of a mortgage, that means repossessing my house in a foreclosureaction. They could take my car or strip me of all my other assets.

All of these consequences made the credit system work: Without them, people would be foolish to pay their debts. But if…

Remember back in the grim days of the mortgage foreclosure crisis? Back when consumers in trouble on their mortgages told horror stories about their inability to reach a live human being at their bank? Back when borrowers would have to fax forms to Wichita on one day and Cleveland the next?

Well, if a proposed piece of legislation working its way through the Indiana House of Representatives is passed as it stands, Hoosier borrowers might find themselves right back there.

Tucked inside Senate Bill 415, on Page 55 of a 104-page bill, is a paragraph repealing language from state code that created, back in 2009, the practice of mortgage settlement conferences for troubled borrowers facing foreclosure.

The change in language isn’t in a bill primarily about mortgages. Most of the bill deals with vacant and abandoned properties. It unanimously passed the Senate in mid-February and is currently in the House’s Local…