DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCES COMPENSATION FOR SERVICEMEMBERS
AS PART OF SETTLEMENT WITH BANK OF AMERICA
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/November/11-ag-1487.html
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced
today
that, as part of its settlement with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP, a
subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, servicemembers whose homes
were unlawfully foreclosed upon will each receive a minimum $116,785
plus compensation for any equity lost to compensate them for the bank’s
alleged violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA).
Bank
of America agreed to pay $20 million to approximately 160
servicemembers who were illegally foreclosed on between 2006 and the
middle of 2009. Under the agreement, Bank of America agreed to provide
information about its foreclosures from mid 2009-2010 and will pay
damages in the same minimum amount to those servicemembers whose homes
were illegally foreclosed upon to compensate for the loss of their
homes. The review is on-going.
“The men and women serving our
nation should not have to worry about a bank foreclosing on their home
while they bravely serve our country,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant
Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department
will vigorously enforce the laws that protect servicemembers while they
do the difficult and necessary work of protecting our country. We have
and will continue to work hard to ensure that servicemembers receive
the full protections of the law and relief they deserve in a timely
fashion.”
On
May 26, 2011,
the department announced a settlement with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP,
formerly known as Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP, which resolved
allegations that the bank unlawfully foreclosed on servicemembers’ homes
in violation of the SCRA. This is the largest SCRA settlement ever
reached by the department. The Department of Defense also provided
critical assistance in identifying the servicemembers whose rights were
violated.
Beginning on
Nov. 14, 2011,
letters will be sent to 157 servicemembers to notify them of the amount
of money that they may receive under the settlement. The settlement
agreement set a deadline for the end of
November 2011 for the Justice Department to determine the amount of damages to which servicemembers may be entitled.
The
SCRA provides critical additional consumer and other protections to the
men and women serving our nation in the military – its enactment was a
recognition that those who are making great sacrifices to protect us
deserve our full support at home.
For more information on the Justice Department’s work to protect servicemembers, please visit
www.servicemembers.gov.
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