Looks like 2013 is starting off with a concept many of us are familiar with – the only constant in life is change! And many times CHANGE is GOOD.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced today they have reached a settlement with ten of the servicers that were part of the Independent Foreclosure Review:
- · Aurora
- · Bank of America
- · Citibank
- · JP Morgan Chase
- · MetLife Bank
- · PNC
- Sovereign
- · SunTrust
- · U.S. Bank
- · Wells Fargo
They are still working out settlements with the remaining 17 servicers that were part of the Independent Foreclosure Review under the original enforcement actions issued in April 2011 as a result of the unsafe and unsound foreclosure and mortgage servicing practices of these original 27 servicers. For now, the above ten servicers are required to “pay more than $8.5 Billion in cash payments and other assistance to help borrowers” who were in the foreclosure process|experienced unsafe servicing practices (whether completed or not) with these ten servicers January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010.
Borrowers deemed eligible (not sure yet who does the “deeming”!) are expected to receive a faster response than that which would have occurred under the Independent Foreclosure Review, and may receive anywhere from several hundred dollars to $125,000 in restitution. Any other civil/legal claims these borrowers have/had do not need to be waived. It does not matter whether or not you responded by the Independent Foreclosure Review’s December 31, 2012 deadline.
This agreement affects 3.8 million borrowers – was one of them you or someone you know? Contact your servicer about it, but you might want to wait a bit until those massive machines trickle the information along to their front line staff, or call back if you call and get the equivalent of a blank stare from the person you get on the phone.
Is this change good? We'll see...
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