In another major settlement, Bank of America and nine other major lenders have agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims of wrongfully foreclosing on millions of American homeowners. The settlement covers a number of foreclosure abuses including flawed paperwork, robo-signing, and wrongly modified loans. The settlement will end an independent review of all foreclosures, meaning the banks could be avoiding billions of dollars in further penalties. Diane Thompson, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center, criticized the deal, telling the Associated Press: “[The settlement] caps [banks’] liability at a total number that’s less than they thought they were going to pay going in.”