Release date: 3/17/2015
Raleigh: About 2,200 North Carolinians who are owed a total of $2 million from SunTrust for wrongful foreclosures should start receiving claim forms in the mail this week, Attorney General Roy Cooper said today.
“Foreclosures hurt our families, neighborhoods and communities,” said Cooper. “This settlement gives people who lost their homes to wrongful foreclosures an opportunity to get some money back.”
The payments are part of $21.5 million in relief for North Carolina homeowners that Cooper won last year in a settlement with SunTrust. That’s North Carolina’s share of a $550 million national settlement that included 48 other states, the District of Columbia, and federal officials. Under the agreement, SunTrust must also meet tougher mortgage servicing standards designed to prevent future problems for homeowners.
A total of 2,286 North Carolinians who lost their homes to foreclosure are eligible for direct cash payments totaling approximately $2 million. Direct payments to foreclosure victims will come from a national $40 million fund created under the settlement to provide money back to more than 45,000 consumers nationwide.
Consumers may be eligible if:
- They were foreclosed on between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013.
- Their mortgage was serviced by SunTrust at the time of foreclosure.
- They made at least three payments on the loan.
- They either lived in the home or intended to live in the home at the time they took out the mortgage.
- The mortgage was for a property with at least one and no more than four residential units.
- The unpaid principle of their first mortgage was within certain limits.
Individual consumers will likely receive payments of around $850, depending upon how many eligible people submit claims. Payment checks are expected to be mailed in the fall of 2015.
The deadline to submit claims is June 4, 2015. Eligible consumers are encouraged to complete their claim forms and return them as soon as possible.
Consumers who have questions or need help filing their claim can contact the settlement administrator toll-free at 1-866-590-8532 or by email at settlementadministrator@nationalSunTrustsettlement.com. People who believe they are eligible but did not receive a mailing should contact the settlement administrator directly.
Cooper’s settlement with SunTrust is based on a 2012 national settlement negotiated by Cooper with the five largest mortgage servicers at the time, Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The National Mortgage Settlement resulted in new standards to prevent unnecessary and improper foreclosures and has so far provided more than $50 billion in relief to distressed homeowners. In North Carolina, the settlement provided $338 million for housing counselors, legal help, fraud detection and prosecution, and economic improvement as well as $33.57 million in direct payments to foreclosure victims.
Cooper also helped negotiate a similar settlement last year with Ocwen Financial Corporation, worth $2.1 billion nationally and $26 million in North Carolina.
Media contact: Noelle Talley (919) 716-6413
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