8/2/2019 March 2012 Bulletin Board
1/120March 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com
TheBulleTinBoard
Big banks cough up $26 billion Compiled by Russell SteinbergBig
bank payoutThe U.S. government
andve major banks Bank of America, JPM-organ Chase, Wells
Far-go, Citigroup andAllyFinancial last monthagreed to a $26
billionmortgage settlementfor wrongful mortgageservicing practices.
The
money willbe paid outto about1.75 millionAmericans.
New Yorks cutNYS will receive roughly $136
million the settlements larg-est per-borrower cut of the
49states that signed on. The fed-
eral govern-ment estimatesthat more than46,000 bor-
rowers in NewYork willbenet fromthe deal, with
around21,000 getting a re-duction in the debt owed on
their mortgages.
Individual aidVictims of wrongful foreclosure will
receive checks for $1,500 to $2,000.Funds will also be allocated
for loanmodifcations and legalassistance for under-water borrowers.
Pres-ident Barack Obamasaid in a speech thatthe deal will begin
toturn the page onan era of reck-lessness.
Imperfect planNew York AG Eric Schneiderman was critical of the
deal,saying it let banks off too easy. The settlement will
onlyimpact loans serviced by the na-tions biggest lenders, or about
55percent of all mortgage holders,though the government hopes to
eventually strike a dealwith nine additional banks. (Wall Street
Journal)
Good timingNew York State currently faces arecord100,000
impending fore-closure cases, with tens of thou-sands still
potentially to come.NYC saw 996 rst-time foreclo-sures in 2011, but
thousands morewere notied last year that theyrein danger of losing
their homes.(NYT, Daily News)
Past dueNationally, the number of latemortgage payments
increasedin 2011s fourth quarter, thesecond straight quarter of
in-creases after nearly two yearsof declines. Indeed, 6.01 per-cent
of mortgage holders wereat least 60 days late on theirpayments,
compared to 5.88percent in the third quarter.
(Associat-ed Press)
Lawsuit pendingSchneiderman led a sepa-rate suit last month
againstthree of the banks includedin the settlement,
allegingfraudulent use of the elec-tronic mortgage databaseMERS,
which he claims made iteasier to improperly fore-close on homes. He
saidMERS led more than13,000 foreclosures inthe Empire State.
Bloombergs new billLast month, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg signed a billrequiring banks to noti-fy the citys
Departmentof Housing Preserva-tion and Development atleast 15 days
before be-ginning foreclosure pro-
ceedings on a home.Banks will face apenalty of up to$1,000 for
eachweek they fail tocomply. (WNYC)
