With the crash of the sub-prime lending market, mortgage fraud is decreasing but Blunt wants to make sure it never happens again.

In Greene County, 2008 is on track to be yet another record-breaking year for foreclosures. Already, 55 families have been forced out of their homes. Jennifer Van Cleve was almost a statistic after missing two house payments.

“They ended up putting us in foreclosure,” said Van Cleve.

The Van Cleves kept their home by filing for bankruptcy. Van Cleve now says she probably shouldn't have been given the loan in the first place.

“My husband was making less than 10 dollars an hour and I was a stay-at-home mom,” she said.

Van Cleve says she was the victim of predatory lending. Blunt hopes a new law will reduce mortgage fraud and, in turn, foreclosures.

Under the governor’s proposal, mortgage fraud would be a class C felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison. It would require lenders to provide at-risk homeowners with more information on how to avoid foreclosure and establish a free hotline for those in trouble.

“The education piece is important to keep people out of foreclosure,” said Bob Horton of the Urban Neighborhoods Alliance.

As part of the Home Ownership Preservation Network, Springfield already has a hotline but Horton says more help is always welcome.

“All the steps are steps in the right direction,” he said.

“I hope it works,” said Van Cleve.

Horton says another change he would like to see is a better tracking system for what causes foreclosures. He says the Home Ownership Preservation Network has no way to know why homeowners fall behind. He says a better tracking system would provide them with the information necessary to better prevent foreclosures.