What the foreclosure relief settlement means for Oregonians
Last week, the nation's five largest loan servicers: Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Ally Financial / GMAC agreed to a settlement which would give relief due to fraudulent and flawed foreclosure practices.
Oregon's Attorney General John Kroger announced that the settlement is in the best interest of Oregon consumers.
"Simply put, I do not believe we could get a better agreement on this limited set of issues if we litigated for several more years and delaying a resolution of this investigation would unnecessarily delay bringing relief to Oregon homeowners who need help now," said Kroger.
The settlement will bring an estimated $30 million to the State of Oregon, and an estimated $200 million in relief to distressed Oregon homeowners.
Consumers can visit www.nationalforeclosuresettlement.com for more information, or check the dedicated sites of the financial institutions.
Bank of America
1-877-488-7814
JPMorgan Chase
1-866-372-6901
Citibank
1-866-272-4749
Ally Financial/GMAC
1-800-766-4622
Wells Fargo
1-800-288-3212
Read more about the Multistate Settlement at the Attorney General's website.
Business Card Holders Beware!
Nicknamed ‘CARD’ the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act was signed into law more than one year ago. With its passing, consumers received new protections and transparencies from their credit card companies. It is no longer legal for credit card companies to exploit their customers with two-cycle billing, out of control fees and APR increases for being one day late on a
payment. Today, credit card companies must be more transparent with their policies--they cannot raise interest rates on existing balances and must have a payment plan that is fair and feasible for the card holder.
Washington Mutual is Reprimanded for Their Contribution to the Financial Crisis
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recently published a report on the actions leading up to the largest bank failure in US history--that of Washington Mutual. The irresponsible actions of banks like Washington Mutual contributed to the greatest financial crisis since the great depression.
The subcommittee has blamed Washington Mutual for contributing to the financial crisis by originating a huge volume of risky loans that were wold as mortgage-backed securities and ultimately became toxic. Senators criticized former bank leaders for both originating those loans and for not entirely disclosing their risky--and sometimes fraudulent--nature when they were securitized.
