The Attorney Generals of 11 states, led by California's Jerry Brown, have reached an agreement with BofA, owner of Countrywide Mortgage, over unfair and deceptive lending practices that will possibly benefit roughly 400,000 home owners Monday.
Of course BofA didn't willingly reach this agreement to help homeowners. They were sued in those 11 states for Countrywide's unfair and predatory lending practices with regard to subprime mortgages. The program will be monitored by the states and is mandatory for BofA under the rules of the settlement.
So, even though the Federal Bailout Package didn't do shit to help homeowners, this settlement will. From the NYT:
Along with the direct relief, Countrywide will waive late fees of $79 million and prepayment penalties of $56 million and suspend foreclosures on delinquent borrowers with the riskiest loans.
A foreclosure relief fund will be created with $150 million from Countrywide to help borrowers who are four months or more behind on their payments or whose homes have already been foreclosed on. The company will also provide $70 million to help troubled borrowers relocate to rental housing. In all, Countrywide is setting aside $8.7 billion to help borrowers.
Of course Countrywide didn't admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. Funny how that works. The other states involved are; Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington.
This settlement does NOT let off the hook Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, or David E. Sambol, the company’s former president. Both those greedy bastards can still be charged with crimes.
Angelo Mozilo, as you may recall, was the founder and top executive at Countrywide. He reaped almost $122 million during 2007 in stock options alone.
Tags: Countrywide Mortgage, Bank of America
