4 million foreclosures subject to review

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency stated Monday that mortgage services will start sending out letters this month that ask borrowers if they want their case reviewed.

The nation’s 14 largest mortgage servicers — including Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — were ordered to offer to review cases after the government found that some rushed the foreclosure process without carefully reviewing documents.

The orders require the lenders pay home owners when a “borrower suffered financial injury.” There is no minimum or maximum dollar amount identified.

Critics, including congressional Democrats, state the orders were too lenient on the banks and that it was inappropriate for the lenders to review their own potential mistakes.

“Servicers have a poor performance track record in effectively engaging with borrowers, and, in the claims process, have a natural disincentive to reach the households their practices have harmed,” wrote Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in a letter to regulators.

Regulators state independent consultants will also review the cases and that those reviews would likely take several months. If a consultant finds that a lender erred, it will conduct follow-up reviews on other cases to see if the lender is trying to dodge blame.

“The challenge is substantial, but the steps we have required the servicers to take are vitally important to resolving these issues in a way that respects the rights of those who have been harmed and helps to restore confidence in the system,” stated John Walsh, acting Comptroller of the Currency.

In the four years since the housing bust, about 5 million homes have been foreclosed upon. About 2.4 million primary mortgages were in foreclosure at the end of last year. Another 2 million were 90 days or more past due, putting them at serious risk of foreclosure.

The other lenders and service providers cited by the agencies include: Ally Financial Inc., Aurora Bank, EverBank, HSBC, MetLife Bank, OneWest Bank, PNC, Soverign Bank, SunTrust Banks, U.S. Bank, Lender Processing Services and MER-SCORP.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

More source:

4 million foreclosures subject to review - Business - Real estate ...
Four Million Foreclosures Are Subject to Review | AllFinancialMatters
Foreclosure Review Is Free, But Few Borrowers Apply : NPR
Feds OK 4 million foreclosure reviews - Mackenzie Weinger ...

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Submited at Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 12:00 pm on News by steve
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