In April 2013, the United States Justice Department announced a settlement agreement with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, and Saxon Mortgage Servicing Inc., a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley on behalf of 316 service members whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed upon between 2006 and 2010. These Service members are entitled to receive over $39 million in monetary relief for alleged violations of the Service members Civil Relief Act (SCRA).
Under the settlement with Bank of America, service members whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed between 2006 and 2010 will receive a minimum of $116,785.00 plus any equity lost and interest. These same service members who are receiving payment under this settlement may also receive an additional payment under another settlement between Bank of America and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System this additional settlement will bring the total amount received by eligible service members to $125,000.00. Under the second settlement, Saxon Mortgage Services Inc. will pay over $2.5 million to 19 service members whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed upon between 2006 and 2010. Each service member will receive a minimum of $130,555.56, plus compensation for any equity lost with interest.
Finally, it appears that someone is looking into and getting payments for people whose homes were lost due to sloppy and unlawful foreclosure procedures. The SCRA provides critical additional consumer and other protections to the men and women serving our nation in the military. For more information on the Justice Department’s work to enforce service members’ rights, please visit www.servicemembers.gov. The Justice Department suggests that consumers contact their loan servicer to request a loan modification or to refinance under the national mortgage settlement. The contact information for the five largest services are:
•Ally/GMAC:800-766-4622
•Bank of America:877-488-7814 (Available M-F 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. CT and Saturdays 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT)
•Citi:866-272-4749
•JPMorgan Chase:866-372-6901
•Wells Fargo: 800-288-3212(Available M-F 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. CT)
