According to negotiators for major U.S. lenders and the federal government, a settlement could be reached as early as next week over state and federal claims dealing with faulty foreclosures[1]. Fines and penalties are estimated in an excess of $20 billion and require lenders to form state and federal funds to resolve claims and provide relief to borrowers. Although July 13, 2011 is the target date for resolution, everyone involved admits that the process could drag on as “parties iron out details.”
Lenders involved in the negotiations include Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Ally Financial, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America. July 13, 2011 is also the deadline that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) set for banks to submit their “action plans” for fixing problems in their foreclosure processes and compensating homeowners for wrongful foreclosures. Some sources predict that in the end, the settlement could result in funds, fines and penalties that will cost lenders as much as $60 billion, although that number has not been substantiated. Spokespeople for all the lenders involved have refused to comment on the settlement at this time[2]. Some rumors indicate that banks might be able to get credit toward the settlement payoff by writing down principal and modifying loans, although the “exact mechanism to determine and award credits is still being discussed” and has been a highly contentious issues throughout the negotiation process.
Do you think that banks will make the modifications and pay the fines? Are these lenders getting off easy or are the penalties going to be too harsh?
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[1]http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/07/07/jpmorgan_bofa_said_to_near_foreclosure_deal_with_us_states/
[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-06/jpmorgan-bofa-among-banks-said-to-be-near-20-billion-foreclosure-accord.html
July 7th, 2011 at 6:38 AM
We MUST demand criminal prosecution not only for BofA, Countrywide executives, but many other from Wall Street and our government that turned the other way while all this fraud was going on and then bailed them out with OUR MONEY so now they can settle their crimes! WHAT ABOUT US, WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE???? Are we going to get our houses for free now? Are we going to be reimbursed for pain and sufferings caused by those greedy demons???
The results of Wall Street’s fraud are numerous FRAUDclosuers, topped with the ignorance that works well for those who committed the biggest financial crime in the history of the world. Nothing will change until the responsible for this scam are prosecuted! We must do that, we should not rest until the truth is out and all those responsible are prosecuted.
We have had enough of being robbed blind, of paying inflated mortgages, of paying to the biggest financial fraud in the history of the world, of rescuing the criminals with our tax money! We have to stand up for our kids!