More than 1,400 Kansas homeowners received almost $53 million in mortgage assistance during 2012 from the national mortgage settlement, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced today.
The latest report on implementation of the national settlement, published this week, shows 1,445 Kansas homeowners received a total of $52.9 million in mortgage assistance under the settlement between March 1 and December 31, 2012. According to the report, the average relief per homeowner was $36,677.
The $52.9 million in assistance, which was provided directly by the mortgage servicers to the borrowers, has come in the form of lien modifications and extinguishments, short sales, refinancing and other types of adjustments in mortgage obligations of affected homeowners.
“These national mortgage servicers engaged in lending practices that caused direct harm to hundreds of Kansas homeowners,” Schmidt said. “This national report shows that our enforcement action is continuing to provide the help that many Kansas homeowners desperately need.”
In March 2012, Kansas, 48 other states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government entered into a landmark settlement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to resolve the states’ allegations of illegal conduct in the mortgage servicing market. Under terms of the settlement, the five servicers are providing mortgage relief to qualifying homeowners.
The five mortgage servicers who settled are Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Further investigation into illegal conduct in the mortgage market during the national financial crisis is ongoing.
Kansans seeking more information can contact the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-432-2310 or www.ag.ks.gov.
