Over 2,700 People Victimized by Countrywide’s Lending Practices Will Receive Money From Settlement of Florida Suit; Legal Services Programs to Use Additional $4 Million to Assist Low Income Homeowners
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Bibliographic Info:
Source: “Settlement Checks on the Way,” The Ponte Vedra Recorder (FL)
Date: February 25, 2010
The Ponte Vedra Recorder states: “Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced last week that more than 2,700 people will receive checks from a 2008 settlement his office obtained with Countrywide Financial Corporation. . . . The Attorney General has called on Bank of America [the company that acquired Countrywide after the suit was filed] to be more responsive to consumers who are trying to modify their loans and save their homes from foreclosure. . . . ‘These checks will make a significant difference for Floridians who are trying to save their homes,’ said McCollum in a statement. In July 2008, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Countrywide, one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, for allegedly engaging in deceptive and unfair trade practices. . . . Under the settlement [reached in October 2008], the Attorney General also obtained $4 million to fund a foreclosure defense assistance program. The money will be provided to organizations over the course of two years, and the first funds were distributed in late 2009. The organizations that receive the grants agree to provide free legal assistance to eligible homeowners who face foreclosure but cannot afford an attorney. ‘These resources, both the checks to homeowners and the grants to fund pro bono foreclosure defense assistance, are substantial assets to Floridians,’ said attorney Heather Rodriguez, president of the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, one of the organizations that received grant funding.”