State and federal lawmakers are calling for a crackdown on unscrupulous mortgage firms, saying that "predatory" lending practices have fed a growing national wave of foreclosures affecting millions of people with subprime home mortgages.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., issued a study showing foreclosures in New York City's five boroughs are up by 80 percent since February, indicating, he said, that the city "is now in the full throes of the subprime foreclosure meltdown."

Despite that credit crisis, some mortgage companies continue advertising that entices homebuyers with misleading loan offers, Schumer told a news conference on Sunday.

"Banks should not be offering these loans and sucking more New York homebuyers and homeowners into taking on more debt attached to a sky high interest rate," Schumer told a news conference. "But judging by the way lenders are still pushing misleading, deceptive and expensive mortgages, you'd never know there is a crisis."

Schumer also said some lenders apparently are using accounting standards that lock borrowers into agreements without opportunity to refinance, despite a recent Securities and Exchange Commission directive against the practice.

Separately, State Sen. Jeff Klein, a Democrat whose district includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester, issued a detailed survey that showed foreclosures "rising at an alarming rate" indicating that statewide foreclosures in 2007 will be 60 percent higher than a year ago.

"The subprime lending crisis has reached a climax and the effects can be felt at every level," Klein said in a joint statement with four other state Senate Democrats. "It is unacceptable to remain idle as thousands of New Yorkers lose hold of the American Dream and slip noiselessly into economic depression."

The group urged legislative action on a number of proposals to help subprime mortgage holders to avoid losing their homes through foreclosure and to add new safeguards against lending practices that misled or otherwise victimize applicants.

While "predatory" lending is not legally defined, "it is apparent when less-educated, elderly, low-income or minority homebuyers and homeowners are targeted," said Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn. "Abusive behaviors... must be eradicated by legislative regulations and consumer education."

Klein said his survey showed 14,559 foreclosures in New York City and 5,168 in Westchester and Nassau counties since July 2006.

Some 55 percent of the city's foreclosures were handled by 10 lending institutions, he said.

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