Senate Democrats have rolled out a bill that, like legislation passed by the House last month, is aimed at preventing mortgage brokers from steering borrowers into higher-cost loans in order to collect bigger fees, and bars prepayment penalties on subprime and high-cost loans.

The Homeownership Preservation and Protection Act of 2007, introduced Wednesday by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., would require loan servicers to implement loss mitigation strategies before initiating foreclosure proceedings against borrowers.

The Senate bill would also require lenders to follow existing federal guidelines for subprime and nontraditional mortgage loans, and lower the threshold for loans to fall under even stricter requirements for high cost mortgages as defined by the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act, or HOEPA.

Initial foreclosure filings rose 93 percent from January through November compared to the same period last year, foreclosure research company Foreclosures.com reported this week, and the number of homes that ended up as bank-owned properties rose 41 percent.

An estimated 1.08 million homes, or 14.8 of every 1,000 households, entered the foreclosure process nationwide in the first 11 months of the year. And 526,936 households, or 6.6 homes out of every 1,000 households, reverted to lender ownership.

An estimated 72,101 homes nationwide were repossessed by lenders in November alone, up 31.8 percent compared to October. Bank-owned properties are also known as real estate-owned, or REO, properties.