<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"><base href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/08/1414841/foreclosure-settlement-sweep-critics/"><style id="article-content">
@media print {
.original-url {
display: none;
}
}
h1.title {
font-family: Palatino, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 1.33em;
line-height: 1.25em;
text-align: start;
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
}
h1 {
font-size: 1.25em;
}
h2 {
font-size: 1.125em;
}
h3 {
font-size: 1.05em;
}
.page.rtl {
direction: rtl;
}
.page a {
text-decoration: none;
color: rgb(32, 0, 127);
}
.page a:visited {
color: rgb(32, 0, 127);
}
#article.auto-hyphenated {
-webkit-hyphens: auto;
}
#article pre {
white-space: pre-wrap;
}
#article img {
/* Float images to the left, so that text will nicely flow around them. */
float: left;
margin-right: 12px;
/* Scale down very wide images, but maintain their intrinsic aspect ratio. */
max-width: 100%;
height: auto;
}
#article img.reader-image-tiny {
/* Don't float very small images -- let them display where they occur in the text. */
float: none;
margin: 0;
}
#article img.reader-image-large {
float: none;
margin: auto;
margin-bottom: 0.75em;
display: block;
}
#article .leading-image {
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;
margin-bottom: .25em;
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
}
#article .leading-image img {
margin: auto;
float: none;
display: block;
clear: both;
}
#article .leading-image img.full-width {
width: 100%;
}
#article .leading-image .credit {
color: #909090;
font-size: 0.55em;
margin: 0;
text-align: right;
width: 100%;
}
#article .leading-image .caption {
color: #666;
font-size: 0.7em;
line-height: 140%;
margin-top: 0.4em;
width: 100%;
}
#article .leading-image .credit + .caption {
margin-top: 0.1em;
}
.float {
margin: 8px 0;
font-size: 65%;
line-height: 1.4;
text-align: start;
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
}
.float.left {
float: left;
margin-right: 20px;
}
.float.right {
float: right;
margin-left: 20px;
}
.float.full-width {
float: none;
display: block;
font-size: 100%;
}
.page {
font: 20px Palatino, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif;
line-height: 160%;
text-align: justify;
}
.page:first-of-type .title {
display: block;
}
.page table {
font-size: 0.9em;
text-align: start;
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
}
.page-number {
display: none;
}
.title {
display: none;
}
@media screen and (max-device-width: 480px) {
#article.auto-hyphenated {
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
}
.page {
text-align: start;
}
}
</style><title>Latest Foreclosure Settlement Panned By Critics For Letting Banks 'Sweep Past Abuses Under The Rug' | ThinkProgress</title></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareWrapperClass" contenteditable="false"><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareUserContentTopClass" style="line-height: 14px !important; color: black !important; text-align: left !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><br></span><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareSharedContentClass" style="position: relative !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><base href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/08/1414841/foreclosure-settlement-sweep-critics/"><div><div class="original-url"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/08/1414841/foreclosure-settlement-sweep-critics/">http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/08/1414841/foreclosure-settlement-sweep-critics/</a><br><br></div><div id="article" onscroll="articleScrolled();" class="auto-hyphenated" style="-webkit-locale: en; ">
<!-- This node will contain a number of 'page' class divs. -->
<div class="page" style="font-family: Palatino, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4; "><h1 class="title"><font size="4">Latest Foreclosure Settlement Panned By Critics For Letting Banks ‘Sweep Past Abuses Under The Rug’</font></h1>
<p style="font-size: 14px; ">
By <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/author/pat-g/" style="font-weight: bold; ">Pat Garofalo</a> on Jan 8, 2013 at 11:45 am</p>
<div class="float right" style="width: 589px; ">
<p><span style="font-size: 14px;"><img src="http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/foreclosuregirl010813.jpg" alt="" title="" width="218" height="231" style="float: right; "></span><font size="3">Federal regulators yesterday <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/07/1407351/banks-reach-85-billion-settlement-with-regulators-over-foreclosure-abuses/">announced an $8.5 billion settlement</a> with 10 of the nation’s biggest banks over various foreclosure abuses. According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, “The sum includes <a href="http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2013/nr-ia-2013-3.html">$3.3 billion in direct payments</a> to eligible borrowers and $5.2 billion in other assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments.”</font></p>
<p><font size="3">This settlement — which comes in addition to the $25 billion foreclosure fraud settlement crafted last year — is meant to <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/feds-replace-flawed-foreclosure-review-with-vague-8.5-billion-settlement">provide redress to homeowners</a> who had to deal with “<a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/feds-replace-flawed-foreclosure-review-with-vague-8.5-billion-settlement">independent</a>” foreclosure reviews <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/is-bofas-foreclosure-review-really-independent-you-be-the-judge">that were not so independent</a>. But Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), for one, believes that the settlement <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/multi-billion-mortgage-deal-favors-banks-critics-claim-1B7872323">gives banks a pass</a> on their contemptible behavior:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font size="3">“<strong>I have serious concerns that this settlement may allow banks to skirt what they owe and sweep past abuses under the rug without determining the full harm borrowers have suffered</strong>,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D.- Md., a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and a vocal critical of the government regulators handling of the mortgage crisis. </font></p></blockquote>
<p><font size="3">Other housing and fair lending advocates agree. “For many people this will be the end of the line,” said Diane Thompson, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. “<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/multi-billion-mortgage-deal-favors-banks-critics-claim-1B7872323">This is a much lower number</a> for the banks compared to what they were at risk for.” “The regulators have decided to replace the fox in the henhouse <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/07/foreclosure-review-settlement-banks_n_2426437.html">with the wolf</a>,” added John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">“We commend regulators for their ongoing efforts to hold financial institutions accountable for misdeeds during the foreclosure crisis, but the payments in this settlement <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/press/statement/2013/01/07/49076/statement-caps-julia-gordon-on-the-latest-settlement-over-abusive-foreclosure-practices/">represent a mere fraction</a> of the total harm inflicted on borrowers and communities,” said Julia Gordon, Director of Housing Finance and Policy at the Center for American Progress. The last foreclosure settlement <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/19/1215071/big-banks-gaming-settlement/">was gamed by the banks</a>, who counted aid they were providing anyway towards their settlement total.</font></p>
<font size="3"><a name="scroll-link"></a>
</font><div style="width: 33%; "><br></div>
<!-- googleoff: all -->
<!-- Close comments -->
<!-- googleon: all -->
</div>
<!-- Close Post -->
</div></div></div></span><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareUserContentBottomClass" style="line-height: 14px !important; color: black !important; text-align: left !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><br></span></span></body></html>