Oregon Missed a Chance to Limit Prepayment Penalties

The Oregon legislature narrowly missed the opportunity to help homeowners deal with aggressive loan terms when the session closed without passage of representative Jeff Merkley’s mortgage industry reform bill.

Jeff Merkley, speaker of the Oregon house of representatives and a candidate for US Senate from Oregon, pushed hard for his bill limiting the impact of prepayment penalties on loans in Oregon. The bill would have required an expiration date on prepayment penalties and would have increased disclosure requirements for loans with such provisions.

The bill was approved by the Oregon House of Representatives but died in the Oregon Senate despite the herculean efforts of its sponsor.