Bank Settles Countrywide Mortgage Lawsuit

Bank Of America Agrees To Modify Loans Of Homeowners In 11 States Facing Loss Of House

(AP)  Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, a Bank of America Corp. subsidiary has agreed to modify tens of thousands of loans to keep people in 11 states from losing their homes, the Illinois attorney general's office said Sunday.

Borrowers stuck with Countrywide Financial mortgages that they can't afford could see their interest rates reduced or have the loan principal cut. Some might qualify for having to pay nothing but interest for a decade. Even people who can't afford to keep their homes with such changes will be able to get help moving to a new home.

"This is going to provide a tremendous amount of relief," said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Her office and officials from California negotiated the settlement. Nine other states have also joined the settlement, and other states could sign on, said Deborah Hagan, chief of Madigan's Consumer Protection Division.

If all 50 states were to join, the settlement could provide $8.7 billion in relief to 400,000 borrowers, Hagan said.

In California alone, the settlement will offer $3.5 billion in relief. For Illinois, that would translate to $190 million. The total for the 11 states was not immediately available.

The settlement applies to people who obtained their mortgages through Countrywide Financial Corp., which Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America purchased in June, at the same time Illinois and California sued the company.

"Countrywide's lending practices turned the American dream into a nightmare for tens of thousands of families by putting them into loans they couldn't understand and ultimately couldn't afford," California Attorney General Jerry Brown Jr. said in a statement Sunday.

The other states joining the settlement are Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington.

Bank of America will launch the new mortgage aid program in December, said Barbara Desoer, president of Bank of America's mortgage, home equity and insurance services. In a statement, she called it "a comprehensive program that provides more solutions than ever before to assist troubled borrowers and put them back on the path to sustained home ownership."

The mortgage aid includes revising customers' payments so they don't exceed 34 percent of income. Other options include reducing interest rates and adjusting principal so that borrowers don't wind up actually losing equity under some payment plans.

Countrywide will not charge loan modification fees and will waive prepayment penalties.

Madigan said she hopes the settlement could serve as a model for steps that other lenders could take to make up for misleading mortgage practices. She stressed that the agreement involves no tax money but will help people keep their homes and keep money flowing to lenders

"This settlement will help homeowners stay in their homes, which ultimately helps investors and also helps communities," said Madigan, a Chicago Democrat.

[jscottelwood-2009]

Yeah, Just fix everything and give these people hope and equity. Within a year they will all max out any equity you give them in new home equity loans. They were all ignorant once and I don''t believe any of them has since graduated summa *** laude with an accounting degree. All you are doing is encouraging irresponsible lending and borrowing practices and allowing this to happen again. Wise up and let the chips fall where they may.

[barbaraf4]

"I quit after 1 year with them. the only reason I stayed on that long was because of my resume. I apologize to anyne that I put into a bad loan while there. i had no choice." Posted by mrcrosby1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have always used my resume'' as my Moral compass too.

[barbaraf4]

The reason was so it did not look like I was jumping from job to job. It does not mean I did not try to warn my customers what the "real deal" was while i was there. Posted by mrcrosby1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I took an early retirement and I have enjoyed hobbies and volunteer work for the past three years. I have no idea where my resume ended up in my files; however, I remember every right action I performed in my career and every good deed I did. I even remember quitting a job after 4 hours because it did not bit my ethics goals.

We all make decisions, right or wrong, but the trick is to not try to justify these decisions with a lame my-dog-ate-my-homework excuse.

[repairman71]

Countrywide initally said I qualified for a Loan modification. After 9+ Months battling for a an affordable loan modification, It never happened. They stopped taking payments during the modification process otherwise it would void the offer. 9 months down the road I''m in foreclosure. After running scared and finding a new home for my family & already moved, I go through mediation - Countrywide finally offers me a mort. @ 3.5% but tacked on $33,000 onto the rear of the loan. Plus they are financing 98% loan to market value. What''s up with that? Just to keep me in my home! Now that I have moved - I can''t move back. They hurt my credit enough, they have hurt my family in more ways then one. Why I am going to struggle to keep a nightmare that should have been taken care of months ago. My house has been on the market for 90 days and not a single person came to look at it. I admit my house needs work yet I will never be able to sell it or Rent it the way it is, nor fix the issues that need to be addressed - because I can''t get financing and now I have no equity to speak of. After speaking with my RE agent she advised us even when the market comes back, I will never get what the house is worth. I will be broke for a long time and will never regain what is lost. If I don''t have the money to fix the water leaks & broken flooring, * cabinets. I never will. Think about it before you sign, I know we did! Let them keep your house, they put you there, let them suffer!

[random_radar]

My house was in foreclosure status for 3 years. This summer I convinced my wife to give up on it. We came to an agreement with our bank for a short sale and dumped the house for about 75% of what we owed on it.

Sure, I feel bad about how it turned out. But we have moved on and the bank has one less junk property to worry about and the new owners are very happy with their bargain home. I got a better job in a new state and my family is a lot better off.

Trying to keep our house was financial ruin. Getting rid of it has been our financial salvation. I feel much better about life now. I no longer have a millstone around my neck and I sleep better at night.

[horse3farm]

McCain%u2019s involvement as the key figure in the Keating Five scandal.."
Posted by zaqxsw55 at 08:54 AM : Oct 06, 2008
---------
McCain was not a KEY figure in the scandal, and McCain was cleared of wrongdoing. Check your facts

[mitch5511]

No horse3farm...you need to check YOUR facts.

watch and learn...
www.keatingeconomics.com/

McCain was one of the central figures in the Keating 5 scandal. He got off easy back then. If it were to happen today, he would be prosecuted.

[mia williams]

Myself and The United Family Services have been working with Countrywide since December 2007 on modifications of my home mortgage with Counrtywide. Through all the run arounds and now merge with Bank of America, we have now gotten a modification of my mortgage.

Unfortunately, my loan modification is now higher than my original mortgage payments. I am so disappointed in how they went about modifying my mortgage. My family was and still is on the edge of losing our home because of the subprime mortgage agreement.

I specifically said that I did not want a adjustable rate mortgage. I was told at one point that I was not going to have a adjustable rate mortgage by my realtor and that the prelinary contract in front of me was just a rough draft that will be change.

I strongly believe that I was taken advantage of and that nothing had change between the rough draft of my contract and the contract that was signed at closing without the sellers present and neither was my husband that was place on the contract.

They lead me to believe if these papers were not signed soon that I was going to lose the home of my choice even after putting $500 ( good faith) up for the sellers.

I do not understand why would they place me in a subprime loan even if I only barely met the standards of getting a fixed rate mortgage. Help!

[barbaraf4]

"They lead me to believe if these papers were not signed soon that I was going to lose the home of my choice even after putting $500 (good faith) up for the sellers." Posted by doodybop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Salesmen have used that ploy for years - sign now or risk losing it. The bottom line is don''t sign any mortgage papers without a Real Estate Attorney reading them. I''ll bet in retrospect you would have gladly forfeited that $500 ernest money and whatever an attorney had charged you to have stood up and said "no sale".

[raeanneh]

Countrywide told us for over 7 months we qualified for a hardship deferment.In May 08, we received a letter from them stating that if we didn%u2019t come up with over $10,000 they would start foreclosure proceedings. In June, my husband was relocated to another city and in August, our home went under contract for a short sale. After speaking with several managers and faxing over documents that I had, Countrywide agreed that they had misled us and agreed to correct our credit information so we could buy a home in the city my husband is in. They corrected our first mortgage and we received a letter stating as such. They are, however, dragging their feet on correcting the 2nd. We have to be out of the house by October 29. Our credit isn%u2019t good enough to qualify for a new mortgage until they get this fixed. I''m hoping to find an attorney that can help us. What government entity would we go to to make CW responsible for their own actions? We were also told by CW NOT to send in payments because it would mess up their numbers!

[estrellita32]

Sorry to continue my post. When I spoke to Countrywide they said they could do forbearance which would just add interest rate then I would have to repay all the payments double. It doesn''t make sense. I just want to get away from this loan but nobody seems to be lending money. We are hardworking people we just want what is fair. Countrywide didn''t play by the rules, and they get away with it

[bknicholas]

COUNTRYWIDE IS A NIGHTMARE! Please post if you have similar dealings. We had this loan since 2004. We have paid on time for the 1st 2 years when our payment was at 550. After we got out of our forclosure proceedings by paying 6000 for being behind 3 months, we were told we could remodify as soon as the 6000 was paid. We paid it and in March were told to apply for the remodification process. I was told NOT TO PAY DURING THIS TIME because the investors would have to redo the numbers. I was told to wait 30 days. I called back after 32 days to get the answer: IT WAS NOT SUBMITTED! April 15th, I made a payment of what it should have been (550) and was PROMISED it would be done. Went over the application again and was told to wait 30 days. I waited 29 days and was told AGAIN...it was not submitted. This agent promised it would be done. He said I fit the remodifications perfectly.

[bknicholas]

Sorry that you were reading this backward...Start with my first post since I did not have room. I would love to have advice or speak to people that have had similar experiences. I am not going to let them get away with this. Please email me at [e-mail] and let me know if you have had the same dealings with them or if you have advice. I would really appreciate it. I am SICK OF GETTING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY THE BIG COMPANIES THAT DO NOT ANSWER TO ANYONE AND INTEND TO LEAVE MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE ON THE STREET BECAUSE THEY DO WHAT THEY PLEASE! If enough people stand up and say enough is enough...they can be held accountable.

Thanks~

[sjc_1]

I am glad people can get some help with their mortgages in this case. The banks should want to keep people in their homes that can pay, but just not the huge payments that reverse amortization loans accumulate to. I do not think that banks should be allowed to make home loans to people that can not afford it just to take in fees, points and bonuses. It ruins those people and it ruins the nation.

[clmbsgary]

Hi from Ohio,Does anyone no how to join the lawsuite against Countrywide?We were scamed by them also and we dont want to lose our home.Any info on this would be a great help.Thank You and god luck to all that are going through this mess

[leeandhenry]

Has anyone checked into Homecomings Financial? I am in the hurricane Katrina area and my home had 7.5 ft. of water in it. Purchased Thurs. gone Mon. and my interest rate went from 5 to 11% and I got 13,000 from State Farm to rebuild.... I had to pay on my Mortgage without gaps or they told me they would repo my home...there are alot of people here in Miss. like me...wouldn''t this be considered predatory? I guess we have been forgotten. My atty. is helping me in my damages from State Farm, but doesn''t know what to do for my mortgage co. Now I have a SBA loan from rebuilding my home and a high mortgage payment and can''t afford both...sorry SBA
Needing Help Mississippi....

[kaykay888]

We are also in the middle of a nightmare with Countrywide. I was told to NOT PAY for 3 months while processed a program that involved Fannie Mae. I did 3 way calls, left messages for supervisors and NEVER ONCE received a return call. I started paying again, my money was declined and SENT BACK TO ME, and now I have received foreclosure papers. I have called and they refuse to take any responsibility for any of it, and in the meantime I receive a letter from them stating that one of their employees stole all my personal information off the mortgage application. I have cried until I feel sure I don't have a tear left. This is a horrible mess.

[abusedbyCOUNTRYWIDE]

Countrywide refuses to modify my mothers loan. They stole $10,000 from her in false forced placed insurance that they paid to themselves Balboa Insurance. When she refused to pay the fake insurance charges they began foreclosure. They have told her for over a year that she qualitied for a modification. She was even told in December that her rate would be 4.5. Now they say that the investor Deutsche Bank ordered the foreclosure. My mother has lost her job of 20 years with the United States Postal Service. They fired her for being sick. I found my mother in a coma and she was diagnosed with encefalitis. She lives on very little from diability payment through Social Security. She makes enough to qualify for a loan modification but Countrywide refuses to grant her one.
Does anyone know of a classaction in the state of Florida, they are NOT getting my mothers home! She got her home loan through her local bank, the bank sold it to Countrywide. She didn't choose Countrywide.
Countrywide sends back the payments I send them.

[khabeer01]

I had my mortgage with Countrywide since 2006 after I refinanced from another bank. I have never been late and have always made my payment online. On April 30 I paid my mortgage for this month (May) through Countrywide Website and at the bottom of my receipt it says "Bank of America". I did not receive anything from CW about my mortgage transitioning to another bank....I just don't know what to think because they were in the process of letting me refinance out of my interest only to a lower rate. They even have me paid for an appraisal. Does anyone knows what this means?

[josierippey]

I also am a victim of Countrywide aka Bank of America. I applied 3-4-09 to get a modification for affordability program that i am eligible for. They been stringing me around one day Yes, then No, rejected my Jan pymt after being told to pay at bank of america in person.To make matters worse they have not returned my money making me more delinquent telling me its bank at the bank, then mail..still no money back. Now they wouldn't take anymore pymts just to get me into foreclose. I can't loss my home i am hoping others will look into starting a class action suit again against CW. They will not help people they are just trying to take peoples homes away. I sent a complaint to fl state atty office, congressman and HUD and Fannie Mae has CW mortages. Please all of us lets do something FAST.

[josierippey]

Hi! its me again from the earlier comment.
My e-mail is [e-mail] if anyone wants to write or can write on this comment board on how we can get a hold of the atty or an atty that is willing to help us fight against Countrywide before we loss our homes.
Anyone know an atty that can help us or can reach the atty that originally handled the first lawsuit.? I am getting sick of the posibility of lossing my home.

[2ManyPups]

We're in the process of putting together a mass tort suite against Countrywide and the Bank of New York for what we believe was real estate fraud. If you're in Northern California and believe you have been defrauded, see our website at infocaref.com, e-mail us with information about your case, and we'll try to help you get in contact with the authorities and our attorney (if your case qualifies). We're hoping to have the suits filed in Federal Court within another month.