OCC and Fed Release Amendments to Consent Orders

The ""Office of the Comptroller of the Currency"":http://www.occ.gov/ (OCC) and the ""Federal Reserve Board"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/ announced the release of ""amendments"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/enforcement/20130228a.htm to their ""enforcement actions"":http://dsnews.comarticles/regulators-hand-down-enforcement-actions-to-servicers-and-their-vendors-2011-04-13 against 13 mortgage servicers over mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. The amendments memorialize foreclosure agreements made between the regulators and 13 servicers in January.

[IMAGE]

[COLUMN_BREAK]

The OCC and the Fed previously announced a foreclosure agreement totaling $9.3 billion with the servicers. Of that amount, $3.6 billion will go toward cash payments and $5.7 billion will be used for other forms of mortgage assistance to borrowers. An agreement was first announced in January with ""10 banks"":http://dsnews.comarticles/ten-banks-reach-85m-deal-with-regulators-in-foreclosure-settlement-2013-01-07, and later in the same month, ""Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley,"":http://dsnews.comarticles/two-more-2013-01-17?no_redirect=true and ""HSBC"":http://dsnews.comarticles/hsbc-to-pay-249m-in-foreclosure-settlement-2013-01-18 joined the settlement.

Through the foreclosure agreement, the ""Independent Foreclosure Review"":http://dsnews.comarticles/14-servicers-begin-lengthy-foreclosure-review-process-2011-11-01, which stemmed from the enforcement actions first issued in April 2011, was replaced.

The 10 other servicers involved in the settlement are Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

According to the release, 4.2 million borrowers are covered by the amendment and should expect to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000. Rust Consulting, Inc., the paying agent, will contact borrowers by the end of March of this year with payment details. Borrowers can also call 1.888.952.9105 to update their contact information or to see if they're covered under the amendment.