You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Most Borrowers to Receive Paltry Sum from Banks in Foreclosure Settlement

HeadlineApr 10, 2013

Federal regulators have disclosed the terms of a major settlement with the nation’s top banks for the wrongful foreclosures on the homes of millions of Americans. Around $3.6 billion will be shared among some four million borrowers potentially affected by the banks’ misdeeds. About 80 percent of borrowers will receive token amounts of compensation, with payments as low as $300. According to regulators, at least 53 borrowers lost their homes even though they had not actually defaulted on their loans. More than 1,000 members of the military were also wrongfully foreclosed. Those borrowers will receive payments of $125,000. The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by any of the banks involved. Federal regulators shut down a review of the banks’ practices in order to reach the settlement earlier this year. Recent government figures show wrongful foreclosures were far more widespread than regulators acknowledged, occurring at a rate of nearly one in three.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top