The Senate Committee on Public Policy heard Sen. Merritt’s SB 227 removes the July 1, 2017 expiration of the $50 mortgage foreclosure and education filing fee paid by a creditor/plaintiff when filing a new mortgage foreclosure case.
Several nonprofit organizations from around Indiana testified in support of the bill and gave detailed descriptions of the programs and services that have been funded as a result of the fee. Representatives of the Indiana Mortgage Bankers, the Indiana Credit Union League, and the Indiana Bankers Association opposed the bill only to the extent that it would make the mortgage foreclosure and education filing fee permanent. Noting that the fee was originally enacted in 2005 as a temporary measure to address the mortgage foreclosure crisis, they also questioned whether the fee was still necessary. The Committee held the bill.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/senate/227