Helping as many qualified buyers as possible get homes is laudable. Burdening them with debts they can’t pay is not. Tougher regulations, which Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings has proposed in his Homeowner Protection Act, will help restore the balance.

Millions of people, some who borrowed more than they could afford and others who got loans they shouldn’t have qualified for, have what are called subprime mortgages. With rising interest rates and falling housing prices, many consumers can no longer make their payments, sending ripples through financial markets.

Coastal Enterprises Inc., a Wiscasset group that studied predatory lending for a 2006 report, found that between 2000 and 2004, Maine’s subprime market grew more than fourfold in terms of dollar value, to more than $1 billion.

Subprime mortgage loans, which typically have higher interest rates, are meant to serve borrowers who don’t qualify for traditional loans because of credit problems. The market is dominated by nonbank lenders and mortgage brokers.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, subprime mortgages account for 60 percent of foreclosures, although they make up only 13 percent of all outstanding loans. The Center for Responsible Lending predicts one-fifth of subprime loans written in the last two years will end in foreclosure. The percentages are about the same for Maine.

The high foreclosure rates are so troubling that the country’s two largest buyers of home mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, recently announced they would stop buying some types of subprime loans, and several companies that specialize in these loans have gone out of business.

Eighty-nine percent of the subprime lenders and brokers are already regulated by the state. This highlights the need for better regulation.

The act, LD 1869, would restrict the amount of fees lenders can charge while preventing them from offering loans that consumers cannot afford to repay. The bill, which is scheduled for a public hearing Thursday, would also prohibit loan flipping, the practice of companies encouraging lenders to frequently refinance their loans regardless of whether the borrower gets better terms. Such refinancing can lead to huge profits for brokers but lock borrowers into loan repayments that far exceed the value of their home.

It would also restrict prepayment penalties and interest-rate increases when a loan is in default. Perhaps most important, it would require that consumers applying for high-rate, high-fee mortgages get credit counseling so they understand the risks and benefits of the loan they are applying for.

The bill, which incorporates suggestions from the Maine Office of Consumer Credit Regulation, also would put in place new enforcement provisions so regulators can better respond to consumer complaints and criminal penalties to discourage illegal activity.

Such reforms will better protect homeowners and the economy by reducing loan defaults and foreclosures.