.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Iowans who face foreclosure because they can’t repay their subprime home mortgage loans can now access a mediation service through Iowa’s Foreclosure Hotline.

The pilot project is a joint effort of the Iowa Attorney General’s office and Iowa Mediation Service Inc., a nonprofit organization that provided mediation services for hundreds of farmers who faced foreclosure during the 1980s Farm Crisis.

“We thought, ‘It sure worked then; it might work now,'” Miller told reporters during a morning press conference.

Unlike the Farm Crisis mediations, however, the Foreclosure Hotline project will involve “facilitation” rather than formal mediation, and lenders will not be required to participate, Miller said.

“We’re appealing to everyone’s enlightened self-interest,” said Miller, who noted that the program will benefit both lenders and borrowers as well as protect property values in neighborhoods in which these homes are located. “We are convinced it makes sense for everyone to try.”

Iowa’s foreclosure rate on subprime mortgages is currently more than 8.6 percent, the fourth-highest rate in the nation. That rate is projected to increase as millions more of the “2-28” adjustable rate mortgages nationally are expected to adjust to higher rates this year or next, Miller said.

The attorney general’s office is providing $4,500 to Iowa Mediation Service as a “down payment” for the program, using settlement funds made to the state by Ameriquest Mortgage Co. in a national consumer fraud case led by Miller. “We are committed to funding this,” he said, noting that additional money may be drawn from consumer settlement, “or if necessary, we will go to the Legislature.”

The toll-free Foreclosure Hotline number is (877) 622-4866.