FTC: Mailing 450,000 Refund Checks In Countrywide Settlement
July 20 2011 - 11:48AM
Dow Jones News
The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that it is mailing
more than 450,000 refund checks to struggling homeowners who were
allegedly cheated by Countrywide Home Loans as they fought to keep
their homes.
The FTC reached an agreement last year with Countrywide, now a
unit of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), in which the company agreed to
pay $108 million to settle charges that it took advantage of
homeowners in distress by inflating the cost of services relating
to their defaults, such as property inspections and foreclosure
services.
The agency also alleged that Countrywide overstated the amounts
that borrowers owed when they entered bankruptcy, as well as
surreptitiously adding fees and charges to homeowners'
accounts.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement Wednesday that
Countrywide's behavior was unconscionable. "It's astonishing that a
single company could be responsible for overcharging more than
450,000 homeowners," he said.
The charges involved activity at Countrywide prior to its June
2008 acquisition by Bank of America.
Bank of America representatives could not immediately be reached
for comment.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222;
brent.kendall@dowjones.com
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