The new rules would ban low-documentation loans and limit penalties for borrowers who repay their debts. State lawmakers followed suit by proposing a homeowner's bill of rights.

While Wall Street and Congress are trying to fix the nation's broken mortgage lending industry, Missouri lawmakers are trying too. When the Missouri legislature convenes in early January, House Democrats will have a plan ready.

"The house purchasing process lacks transparency, it's overwhelming and it's the biggest investment these folks often make," explained Representative Clint Zweifel of Florissant.

So, to protect Missourians, Zweifel will target corrupt mortgage lenders.

"HUD has actually said that this year they expect borrowers to basically overpay for their mortgages by about 16 billion dollars so it's obvious that there's an opportunity for reform in this system to make it a more consumer friendly process," he explained.

Zweifel's three part plan expands property tax breaks for seniors. It also calls for new caps on property tax increases caused by reassessment of homes. In Missouri, mortgage companies are licensed under federal law, but individual brokers are not. Lenders will also have to disclose how they are being paid and will require them to give customers the best deal.

"And a consumer would know that when they enter into an agreement with that broker that they're being represented and that the best deal is for the consumer and not necessarily the commission that the agent will be getting in the process," he added.

Mortgage broker Chris Sanders said the new standards would make lenders more accountable.

"It just builds a little bit more credibility and also a check and balance system to know if there's one loan officer that's doing a lot of bad loans and there's a high foreclosure rate on that one loan officer they may be investigated properly." he said.

The plan would also reduce the maximum interest rates that can be charged by payday loan businesses.