Tag search result
Tip: Clicking on tags in this page allows you to drill further with combined tag search. For example, if you are currently viewing the tag search result page for "health care", clicking on "Kay Hagan" will bring you to a list of contents that are tagged with both "health care" and "Kay Hagan."
Homestead exemption would go up
Submitted by bniolet on 2009-07-16 14:55
The Senate approved Thursday a bill designed to keep people with high debts from losing their homes.
The bill would double the state's homestead exemption, which protects property from being taken by certain creditors, such as credit card companies. The bill raises the exemption for individuals from $18,500 to $36,000 and for married couples from $37,000 to $60,000.
The exemption applies to judgements arising from unsecured debts such as credit card bills. In secured debts, such as a second mortgage, the borrower agreed to put his or her home up as collateral.
Sen. Dan Blue, a Raleigh Democrat sponsored the bill earlier this session when he was in the House and is now pushing it in the Senate. His original idea was to raise the exemption to as much as $300,000 but knocked the number down after negotiating with interest groups.
The exemption does not allow anyone to avoid paying a debt. It just makes it tougher to put people on the street. The bill fits in with other laws the state has adopted meant to curb predatory lending.
"You still owe the debt," Blue said. "This is consistent with what we've been trying to do in protecting homeowners."
