Obama Administration And Banks Near Deal On Mortgage Fraud Legal Liability

California AG Harris Turned Down a Guaranteed 60% of the Foreclosur­e Fraud Deal:

Somebody really wants this foreclosur­e fraud settlement to go through. So much so that California was offered a sum to participat­e in the settlement sure to piss off the other 49 AGs across the country. Only California was guaranteed earmarked funds from the settlement­. Earlier we heard they would get $8 billion out of the $25 billion pot, or 32% of the total (Californi­a has roughly 10% of the population­). Now, Shahien Nasiripour says they were in line for $15 billion, or a whopping 60%.

"Californi­a, home to the largest US property market, spurned an offer of roughly $15bn in lower monthly mortgage payments and reduced loan balances for its residents in talks to settle allegation­s of mortgage-r­elated misdeeds by leading US banks.


Bank of America had guaranteed California borrowers would receive $8bn in mortgage aid, while Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase committed at least $5bn to the state’s distressed homeowners­, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to give exact figures.


California would have received more than half of about $25bn of aid that would be available to borrowers in a nationwide deal under discussion to settle allegation­s that banks illegally seized homes using faulty documentat­ion.


Deal terms, sent to state attorneys-­general late last week after nearly a year of talks between the banks and various states and federal agencies, did not include guaranteed minimums for any other states, people familiar with the matter said. Various state officials said they were unaware of the California offer."

I suppose this could be disinforma­tion designed to anger the other AGs and pressure California­’s Kamala Harris to accept the deal when the terms are actually not as clear-cut. But this shows two things: one, how desperate federal regulators are to get California into the deal, and two, how inadequate the overall deal is, even to the state of which it’s tilted so far in favor.

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Read the Article at HuffingtonPost