California Pulls Out of Foreclosure Talks with Nation’s Biggest Banks
Claiming that a proposed settlement with some of the nation’s largest banks over foreclosure abuses was wholly inadequate, California Attorney General Kamela D. Harris has decided to walk away.
According to Ruth Simon and Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal in “California Pulls Out of Foreclosure Talks,” all 50 states were participating in settlement negotiations with a number of banks including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. pursuant to allegations of widespread fraud and inadequate foreclosure practices that saw them foreclosing on homes for which the banks could not prove they held the mortgages.
California has the largest number of homes that are underwater, or worth less than the loans on them, with over 560,000 homes facing or in foreclosure since last October when the settlement talks began.
New York and other states have also expressed displeasure over the terms of the settlement. Attorney General Harris stated that the settlement would only benefit about 20,000 homeowners and would immunize the banks against further lawsuits.
In addition, there has not been an agreement on how much the banks would have to pay in penalties with the states’ attorneys general and federal officials wanting more than $20 billion and the banks not willing to pay more than $5 billion.
Still, the negotiations have continued and other officials are hopeful that a settlement will be reached and presented to all 50 states.
Regardless, Arizona and Nevada have filed suits against Bank of America alleging that it misled homeowners regarding modifications of their home loans.
Information in this post gathered in association with Chicago Injury lawyers.
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