Ten Big Banks to Pay $8.5 billion In New Foreclosure Settlement Deal With Feds

Ten major mortgage servicing banks agreed Monday to pay $8.5 billion to settle charges that they wrongfully foreclosed on millions of homeowners in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, particularly through "robo-signing" practices, when banks automatically signed off on foreclosures without properly reviewing documents, according to a statement released jointly by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.

HOAs Foreclosing on Banks

A December 26 CNN Money report says hundreds of homeowners and condo associations are foreclosing on banks that have failed to pay dues and other expenses on the properties they've repossessed.

Ben Solomon, a Miami-based attorney, according to the report, has so far filed more than 1,100 liens against banks on behalf of homeowners associations (HOAs), has pursued 131 foreclosures, and in more than 90% of the cases, has the banks agree to a settlement by paying the bills. Only in very rare cases do HOAs end up pushing the foreclosure all the way through to the auction sale of the properties. This has happened only once for Solomon. In early November, Keys Gate Community Association in Homestead, Fla., brought a foreclosure on a property owned by mortgage servicer, NovaStar, which owed $22,890 in back dues and fees. By mid-November, the association foreclosed on NovaStar and the home was sold at auction to a third party for $62,000, fully paying off the debts to the association.

$260 Million to be Set Aside by Lawmakers for Homeowner Relief Says Florida AG

Early last month, state officials announced that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has entered into an understanding with the leaders of the Florida Legislature to use $260 million of the national mortgage settlement from big banks to provide relief to homeowners in distress. Bondi said $60 million will be directly used for down payment assistance, foreclosure-related legal assistance, improving case flow in state courts and for enforcement efforts by her office. The balance of $200 million will be appropriated for foreclosure prevention, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, home buyer or renter assistance, legal assistance, counseling and other housing-related programs of the state. The Legislature though will have the final say on which agencies get to distribute those funds to the intended beneficiaries.

December 12, 2012

Foreclosures Still Going Down

According to statistics released Tuesday by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association, lenders filed 526 mortgage foreclosures in Lee County during November, down from the 686 mortgage foreclosures filed in October. This November’s number is also lower when compared with the November 2011 figure, which was 643 foreclosures filed. As expected, the big banks topped the list of foreclosing lenders: Bank of America was first with 87; second was JP Morgan Chase Bank at 77, and third was Wells Fargo Bank at 55.