Banks to Pay $9.3 Billion in Foreclosure Abuse Settlement

Banks to Pay $9.3 Billion in Foreclosure Abuse Settlement
By Sarah Pierce

Thirteen banks will pay a total of $9.3 billion to settle federal charges they engaged in foreclosure abuse during the U.S. housing crisis. Borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by one of the banks can expect to receive between a few hundred dollars and $125,000 from the settlement.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve announced the final mortgage abuse settlement Thursday, which includes Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

The federal agencies accuse the banks of engaging in improper foreclosure methods in 2009 and 2010 that included wrongful denial of modifications, improper fees, flawed mortgage servicing and processing practices, and robo-signing – the process of rapidly approving numerous foreclosures and submitting them to courts without having read them to determine if they were proper.

Rust Consulting Inc., which specializes in class action settlement administration, will handle distribution of the funds and is expected to contact affected homeowners by the end of March. Eligible foreclosed borrowers will start receiving payments in April from a $3.6 billion fund. The remaining money will go to struggling borrowers in the form of assistance, including loan modifications and forgiveness.

Over 4 million people whose homes were in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 or 2010 and whose mortgages were handled by one of the 13 mortgage services will be covered by the foreclosure abuse settlement. These borrowers will not need to take any action to receive their payments, nor will they have to waive their legal rights to sue the banks as a condition for payment, according to reports.

Top Class Actions will provide further details on the Bank Foreclosure Abuse Settlement once official notice of the deal is published.