DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Thursday he is asking 10 lenders and loan-servicing firms to spell out their efforts to help borrowers with pay option adjustable-rate mortgages who may be faced with foreclosure. Brown, in a press release, said he wrote to 10 companies, including Bank of America Corp. (BA), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM). He gave the companies until Nov. 23 to report how many option ARMs they hold in California, how many are in negative equity, and their plans to help such borrowers.
"Homeowners with Pay Option ARMs are sitting on ticking time bombs that the lending industry has the power to defuse," Brown said. "Unless these banks and loan servicers act quickly, hundreds of thousands of mortgages will reset across the state, creating a new wave of foreclosures."
Web site: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1828
-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900