Lawmakers to meet in Ohio on foreclosures

WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- Congressional lawmakers will hold a hearing to discuss the subprime mortgage crisis in Ohio, the state hit hardest by home foreclosures, a congresswoman said.

A panel of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a field hearing June 16 in Cleveland, The Hill reported.

In a letter to her colleagues, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, wrote that the hearing will "bring national attention to the barriers that homeowners and their advocates face when seeking loan modifications."

Kaptur, who is not on the committee, added that one of the main barriers to making loan modifications is the "refusal of some mortgage loan servicers to come to the table to negotiate" with struggling homebuyers.

Ohio is considered one of the key presidential battleground states.