Banks to begin payments to Georgia foreclosure victims

The nation’s biggest banks have begun to doll out repayment checks to borrowers in Georgia and around the country as part of a settlement agreement reached with federal regulators. The settlement came after an investigation into foreclosure practices that revealed banks were foreclosing on some homes that were not in default and denying loan modifications to some who qualified, among other things.

The payments will total $3.6 billion and will be spread across borrowers who were at any stage of the foreclosure process between 2009 and 2010 and who had mortgages services by the nation’s 13 largest banks. Payments to individual borrowers will have a range of $300 to as high as $125,000. The first wave of checks have already been sent out and the process is expected to be finished in July.

While the payments certainly cannot undo all of the harm caused by a wrongful foreclosure, they are an important start for the Georgia families who have been affected by unfair conduct at the big banks.

Homeowner in the Atlanta area know all too well how difficult it can be to go through foreclosure and how frustrating it is to try to work with banks to come to an agreement. In some cases, bank representatives will agree to one thing during a phone call, and then another representative will deny the agreement or say something to the contrary later. When this happens, it helps to have an experienced advocate to aid in stopping the foreclosure and saving the home.

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle, “SunTrust, others to begin $3.6B in payments to foreclosed homes,” Ruchika Tulshyan, April 9, 2013.

Information about the foreclosure process and how to stop it can be found on our Atlanta bankruptcy site.