Mortgage loan modification.

Existing law, applicable to residential mortgages, prohibits a person who negotiates, arranges, or otherwise offers to perform a mortgage loan modification or other form of mortgage loan forbearance for a fee or other compensation from, among other things, demanding or receiving any compensation until every service that the person contracted to perform or represented that he or she would perform is accomplished. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions by a natural person a misdemeanor punishable by a specified fine or imprisonment, or both. This bill would require the assessment of civil penalties for a violation of these provisions and would authorize designated state and local government officials to commence civil actions to recover those penalties. This bill would, in addition to the civil penalties described above, authorize further civil penalties for unlawful mortgage modifications perpetrated against a senior citizen or disabled person, as defined, and provide criteria for the assessment of these additional penalties. The bill would authorize a court to order the offender to pay restitution to the senior citizen or disabled person, as specified. This bill would impose a 4-year statute of limitations for actions brought pursuant to these provisions.