Roughly $25 billion in relief for distressed borrowers, states and federal government.
After many months of negotiation, 49 state attorneys general and the federal government have reached agreement on a historic joint state-federal settlement with the country’s five largest loan servicers:
The settlement will provide as much as $25 billion in relief to distressed borrowers and direct payments to states and the federal government. It’s the largest multistate settlement since the Tobacco Settlement in 1998.
The agreement settles state and federal investigations finding that the country’s five largest loan servicers routinely signed foreclosure related documents outside the presence of a notary public and without really knowing whether the facts they contained were correct. Both of these practices violate the law. The settlement provides benefits to borrowers whose loans are owned by the settling banks as well as to many of the borrowers whose loans they service.
Your mortgage servicer may or may not be a lending institution and may or may not own your loan. Many of the loans administered by servicers are owned by third-party investors.
This settlement involves the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers and you may reach them at the Web sites and phone numbers below:
Ally/GMAC: 800-766-4622
Bank of America: 877-488-7814
Citi: 866-272-4749
JPMorgan Chase: 866-372-6901
Wells Fargo: 800-288-3212
Loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are not impacted by this settlement. However, ongoing talks between state attorneys general, the Obama administration and lending mortgage servicers are expected to produce a settlement forcing billions of dollars in principal write-downs.
You may visit the following websites to learn if your loan is owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac:
