If you lost your home to foreclosure, you may soon be getting some relief from a $25-billion settlement from the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers. Iowa Attorney General spokesman, Geoff Greenwood, says if your foreclosed mortgage was with Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, you should be getting a letter.
“These are folks who may have during the foreclosure process endured some type of servicing abuse, some type of misrepresentation from the bank, something went wrong. They’ll be entitled to a payment,” Greenwood says. The amount of money available for each claim has yet to be determined.
“We just don’t know yet, this is going to depend on how many borrowers submit claims. There’s a pool of money, and (the forms) are being mailed out to prior homeowners throughout the country and we’ll see how many return that,” Greenwood explains. There are over 11,000 Iowans who lost their home to foreclosure between January of 2008 and December 31st of 20011, the dates covered in this settlement.
“We want people to know that this is not a scam. They’re going to receive a notice from the settlement administrator that will also have the Attorney General’s logo on it, and this is a legitimate part of the settlement,” Greenwood explains. “Noone should charge you for filling out this form. It is a very easy form to fill out, send it in and assuming you qualify, you’ll be getting a check.”
Greenwood mentions the warning about the scams to be sure that people who are qualified do fill out the forms and send them in. “We know that there have been cases where someone has tried to take advantage of the settlement. They’re trying to sell some type of service…some type of mortgage modification, it could be a number of things,” Greenwood says.
He says to remember you should not be charged anything and should be able to fill out the form by yourself. Greenwood says this payout targets those people in the specific time period. “There are other aspects of this settlement that are open to people and we encourage anyone who is facing mortgage troubles to call the Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline,” Greenwood says.
The forms will begin going out this week, and you are encourage to fill them out and send them in as soon as you can. Greenwood says accepting a payout from this settlement won’t impact your ability to make other claims regarding your foreclosed home. If you have questions or need help filing their claim form, contact the settlement administrator, toll-free, at 1-866-430-8358, or send questions by email to [email protected]
For questions about other mortgate issues, you can call the Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline at: 1-877-622-4866. Or go online to www.Iowamortgagehelp.com.