Bank of America slapped again: Settled for 108,000,000

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This is great news for us that were hit hard by BAC. We were assessed excessive fees for drive by appraisels and they threatened property inspection by entrance to home on notice that property was vacant. Do they just MAKEUP facts? I wonder what they would have had to pay if they had not settled for 108,000,000. It sounds like a lot but is not much considering the accusations read around the net of fraud. Are the avoiding distration as it says? or something more sinister?




June 7, 2010
Bank of America to Pay $108 Million in Countrywide Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank of America will pay $108 million to settle federal charges that Countrywide Financial Corporation, which it acquired nearly two years ago, collected outsized fees from about 200,000 borrowers facing foreclosure.
The Federal Trade Commission announced the settlement Monday and said the money would be used to reimburse borrowers.
Bank of America purchased Countrywide in July 2008. FTC officials emphasized the actions in the case took place before the acquisition.
The bank said it agreed to the settlement “to avoid the expense and distraction associated with litigating the case,” which also resolves litigation by bankruptcy trustees. “The settlement allows us to put all of these matters behind us,” the company said.
Countrywide hit the borrowers who were behind on their mortgages with fees of several thousand dollars at times, the agency said. The fees were for services like property inspections and landscaping.
Countrywide created subsidiaries to hire vendors, which marked up the price for such services, the agency said. The company “earned substantial profits by funneling default-related services through subsidiaries that it created solely to generate revenue,” the agency said in a news release.
The agency also alleged that Countrywide made false claims to borrowers in bankruptcy about the amount owed or the size of their loans and failed to tell those borrowers about fees or other charges.


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