Scammers trying to trick homeowners into divulging personal information

Wilmington – Scam artists have not waited long to begin using the multistate mortgage foreclosure settlement, announced February 9, to try to trick individuals into divulging sensitive personal financial information, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden said today.

Biden secured an estimated $45 million for Delaware in the settlement among 49 states, the federal government and five of the nation’s largest servicing banks. The settlement ended investigations the state attorneys general and the federal government launched in 2010 to look into abuses committed by the banks in the areas of mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure that exacerbated the housing crisis.

“This settlement provides meaningful relief to Delawareans,” Biden said. “The $45 million coming to our state will help those who lost their homes to foreclosure, homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth, and homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments. My office, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, also worked hard to ensure that the settlement would include important new protections for the men and women in our nation’s military. When we send warriors off to fight, they should not have to worry about losing their home to foreclosure while they are at war.”

As part of the settlement, the banks agreed to pay up to $2,000 apiece to individuals whose homes were foreclosed upon between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011. The Virginia Attorney General’s Office reports that scammers have begun calling Virginia residents and claiming to be able to wire the money into the individual’s bank account – if the intended victim will give the caller their account number.

“Scammers rarely miss an opportunity to try to steal,” Biden said. “Delawareans should never give out information like bank account numbers over the phone. If you think you have been contacted by a scammer, call the Delaware Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-220-5424.”

Individuals who may be eligible for legitimate settlement payments will be contacted by the settlement administrator beginning later this year. Eligible recipients will not begin receiving checks for at least several months. Anyone who thinks they may be eligible for the payment can also contact the bank that serviced their mortgage:

·         Bank of America: (877) 488-7814
·         Citigroup: (866) 272-4749
·         JPMorgan Chase: (866) 372-6901
·         GMAC: (800) 766-4622
·         Wells Fargo: (800) 288-3212

Delaware’s $45 million share of the settlement includes:

·         More than $32 million that banks will provide to current and former homeowners in the form of credits to reduce principal mortgage loans, extinguish second lien mortgage loans, and waive deficiencies in short sales, and to provide refinancing to homeowners who are current on their mortgages but are otherwise unable to obtaining refinancing because they owe more than their homes are worth.
·         $1.9 million to provide payments of up to $2,000 to individual Delaware homeowners who have been foreclosed upon. Homeowners will be eligible to receive this money without having to release the banks from any liability for wrongful foreclosure.
·         $10.8 million that banks will pay to the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, which will be used to fund homeowner assistance programs, educational outreach, support Delaware’s new mortgage mediation program, and fund ongoing and new civil and criminal investigations and cases related to the foreclosure crisis. Biden’s office is moving forward with the lawsuit he filed last October against MERS, the private mortgage registry that is at the heart of the foreclosure crisis. The settlement also does not impact the action Biden’s office is taking to ensure Delaware investors’ interests are represented in the proposed $8.5 billion settlement between the Bank of America and the Bank of New York Mellon, the ongoing joint investigation with the New York Attorney General’s office into mortgage securitization practices, and Biden’s continued commitment to share resources with other states to investigate possible misconduct.

Additionally, the settlement requires the five participating banks to implement major new customer service standards, including:

·         A single point of contact for homeowners.
·         Opportunities for homeowners to modify their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.
·         Allowing homeowners to see all of their mortgage documents.
·         A requirement that the banks employ enough trained customer service representatives to answer calls from distressed borrowers.

Delaware and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division led the negotiations of the settlement terms that provided new, well-deserved protections for military personnel, including:

·         Expanded protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) to all active servicemembers serving their country in a hostile fire zone.
·         Expanded mortgage assistance for those servicemembers whose reassignment to new posts require them to uproot and relocate their families on short notice.
·         An agreement obtained by the Civil Rights Division that the banks will make payments of at least $115,000 each to any servicememember who was wrongfully foreclosed upon, as well as payments for servicemembers who were charged interest at a higher rate than that allowed by the SCRA.

Delawareans can obtain additional information about the settlement at the Attorney General’s website at www.attorneygeneral.delaware.gov.

# # #

Print