Foreclosed Homeowners May Not See Settlement Cash

Will homeowners see a penny of the reimbursements that the government has ordered 16 mortgage lenders to pay? Not likely, foreclosure victims and housing activists say.

Under a settlement between regulators and banks announced on Wednesday, an independent review will be conducted of all foreclosures that took place in 2009 and 2010 to determine whether fees were improperly charged or homes were wrongfully foreclosed upon.

Kathleen Keest at the Center for Responsible Lending says whether or not homeowners see any money from the banks is contingent on the outcome of the review.

"It all depends on what the independent consultant looks for, how well it does its job, what standards it uses to evaluate those questions, and what it finds," Keest says. The investigators are to be named by the banks, subject to approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Read the full story at DailyFinance.com

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