California refuses Settlement over Foreclosure Abuses

foreclosure abuseCalifornia Attorney General Kamala D Harris on Friday, 30th September refuses to have settlement negotiations with nation’s major banks over alleged foreclosure abuses. This had destabilized the effort of attorney generals and banks in all 50 states who had been working towards the settlement. Some state and federal officials had been seeking to the extent of $25 billion in penalties to write down loan balances for underwater borrowers. The agreement was expected to settle claims over poor mortgage and foreclosure practises including ‘robo-signing’ that approves documents in foreclosures without actually reading them. According to Harris the anticipated deal is inadequate for California homeowners and too much legal immunity had been given to bank officials under this. More than 2.2. Million California residents owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. As said by Harris ‘No other state had been harder hit than California’ and it was when they were trying to negotiate in good faith that foreclosures in California had upsurge again. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo and Co. are some of the major banks that were involved in the talk. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America spokesman refused to comment whereas Wells Fargo spokeswoman Vickee Adams said that they will carry on working with all parties including their customers to reinstate home ownership nationally and locally. Harris said California will better have a settlement with the banks that would keep more families in their homes. The present deal may have been helpful to only 20,000 Californian homeowners out of 2.2 million. Haris also promised to continue her own investigation in the area and to look for regulations and legislation to avoid future problems.

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