Bank Of America Settlement Announced, Home Buyers To Be Compensated

June 8th, 2010 - 6:53 pm ICT by GD  

bank-of-america Countrywide Financial Corp, which is now a part of Bank of America is going to pay a whopping $108 million settlement fee for charging excess amount of money from the troubled US home buyers.

The news was announced by the Federal Trade Commission at a news conference and it said that almost 200000 customers will be covered by this settlement.

This penalty is the biggest for the company as it has been reported. Jon Leibowitz, the FTC Chairman said that the homeowners had to get into trouble as a major loan provider like Countrywide charged excessive and illegal fees.

Before it was taken over by the Bank of America 2 years back, Countrywide Financial Corp was USA’s leading mortgage servicer. FTC was directed by Senator Charles Schumer in 2008 to investigate Countrywide after allegations of mortgage-loan abuses surfaced.

The senator recently said that Countrywide Financial Corp and other lenders resorted to unethical practices.

Bank of America on its part has said that the investigation started before it acquired Countrywide Financial Corp. However, the FTC has said that the homeowners who defaulted in mortgage payments were made to pay through their noses.

The company charged excess for services like property inspections by an exorbitant margin. The money obtained from the settlement would be used to compensate the homeowners overcharged by Countrywide Financial Corp during the subprime crisis.

Earlier the former chief of Countrywide Financial Corp, Angelo Mozilo was charged with insider trading securities fraud by the SEC. However, Bank Of America is hoping that this settlement will give it the chance to redeem its image in the market.

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