Florida Homeowners in Foreclosure May Get up to $125,000 in Relief
Fort Lauderdale area homeowners dealing with mortgage foreclosures may find some relief in a new federal housing settlement announced today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board.
Ten mortgage servicing companies will pay $3.3 billion in direct payments to eligible borrowers and $5.2 billion in other assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments. The ten firms involved in today’s agreement are:
- Aurora
- Bank of America
- Citibank
- JPMorgan Chase
- MetLife Bank
- PNC
- Sovereign
- SunTrust
- U.S. Bank
- Wells Fargo
The payments involve mortgage servicers operating under enforcement actions issued in April 2011 by the OCC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
How Florida Homeowners in Foreclosure Qualify for Financial Assistance
To qualify for cash compensation, borrowers’ homes must have been in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 with the participating servicers. Eligible borrowers are expected to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of possible servicer error.
For the ten participating servicers, fulfillment of the agreement would meet the requirements of the enforcement actions that mandated that the servicers retain independent consultants to conduct an Independent Foreclosure Review.
As a result of this agreement, the participating servicers would cease the Independent Foreclosure Review, which involved case-by-case reviews, and replace it with a broader framework allowing eligible borrowers to receive compensation significantly more quickly.
No Application is Required
Eligible borrowers will receive compensation whether or not they filed a request for review form, and borrowers do not need to take further action to be eligible for compensation.
A payment agent will be appointed to administer payments to borrowers on behalf of the servicers. Eligible borrowers are expected to be contacted by the payment agent by the end of March with payment details. Borrowers will not be required to execute a waiver of any legal claims they may have against their servicer as a condition for receiving payment. In addition, the servicers’ internal complaint process will remain available to borrowers.
Additional Mortgage Servicers May be Named
The agencies continue to work to reach similar agreements in principle with other servicers that are not parties to the agreement announced today, but that are also subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
OCC and Federal Reserve examiners are continuing to closely monitor the servicers’ implementation of plans required by the enforcement actions issued in April 2011 to correct the unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices.
Click on the link to read about the OCC / Federal Reserve Board mortgage foreclosure settlement.
Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Defense Attorney
Choosing the best approach to protecting yourself and your family from a mortgage foreclosure involves many legal considerations. Contact Fort Lauderdale mortgage foreclosure attorney Marcy Resnik to discuss how you can defend your legal rights in a foreclosure. You can contact Ms. Resnik online or call her at 954-321-0176.
