Durbin Statement on Major Housing Settlement
Agreement Between Attorneys General, Five Major Banks To Help Underwater Homeowners
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after a group of States Attorneys General – including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan – reached a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest banks over lending practices that led to the housing market crash. Illinois stands to receive $1 billion in assistance.
“Today’s settlement with five major banks is an important victory for homeowners across the country who have been the victims of heavy-handed and fraudulent mortgage servicers,” Durbin said. “Nearly four years after the housing market crash, this relief is long overdue. I hope today’s announcement will be followed by renewed efforts to get the housing crisis under control and help families across Illinois save their homes.”
The Attorneys General of 49 states, US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice agreed to a settlement with five major banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial – related to allegations of fraud and robo-signing of foreclosure documents by mortgage servicers.
The settlement will assist three types of families: those that lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2011 and were victims of shady mortgages practices during the loan modification or foreclosure process; delinquent borrowers underwater on their mortgages; and current borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Help for homeowners will be limited to those that had a mortgage or currently have a mortgage held by the five banks.
Durbin is the author of the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, a bill that could help millions of at-risk homeowners prevent foreclosures by allowing them to modify the terms of their mortgages in bankruptcy proceedings.
Illinois borrowers seeking information about their eligibility for settlement benefits may contact their servicers at these numbers:
Bank of America: 1-877-488-7814
Citigroup: 1-866-272-4749
JP MorganChase: 1-866-372-6901
Wells Fargo 1-800-288-3212
GMAC/Ally: 1-800-766-4622
General information can be found www.NationalMortgageSettlement.com.
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