Housing And Civil Enforcement Cases Documents

Payment Distribution Begins to Borrowers Eligible for Payments from $335 Million Lending Discrimination Settlement Between the Department of Justice and Countrywide Financial Corporation (United States v. Countrywide Financial Corp., et al. (C.D. Cal., December 2011) will be completed on July 1, 2015

On July 1, 2015, Independent Settlement Administrator Rust Consulting, Inc. will complete the process of mailing checks to borrowers whom the United States has identified as entitled to payments from the Countrywide lending discrimination settlement fund. The deadline for returning signed releases was October 30, 2014. Individuals with questions about the United States v. Countrywide Financial Corporation lending discrimination settlement may contact the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, in English or Spanish, by telephone at 1-800-896-7743 (Press option "1," then option "96"), or by email at fairhousing@usdoj.gov..

The $335 million settlement fund being administered by Rust was created as part of resolving the United States' allegations that Countrywide Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries engaged in a widespread pattern or practice of discrimination against more than 200,000 qualified Hispanic and African-American borrowers across the country who received mortgage loans from 2004 through 2008, as well as allegations of discrimination on the basis of marital status by encouraging non-applicant spouses to sign away their rights in jointly-held property when the applicant spouse took out a loan in his or her own name. Letters will go out at a later date to borrowers potentially affected by the alleged marital status discrimination.

The settlement, which was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, provided for an independent settlement administrator (Rust) to contact and distribute compensation payments at no cost to borrowers whom the department identifies as victims of Countrywide's discrimination. Rust's activities are overseen by the Department of Justice, and all of Rust's costs and expenses will be paid by Countrywide.

A copy of the United States' lending discrimination complaint against Countrywide, the approved settlement order, and additional information about fair lending enforcement by the Department of Justice, can be found on the Department's website at www.justice.gov/fairhousing.

This announcement only addresses the Department of Justice's December 2011, $335 million settlement resolving claims that Countrywide discriminated in making loans. It is separate from the March 2012, $25 billion settlement between the Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 49 state attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. Individuals can obtain more information about that separate mortgage servicing settlement by visiting www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com. Countrywide borrowers can contact Bank of America at 1-877-488-7814 to obtain information about loan modifications or other relief that they may qualify for under that separate settlement. It is also separate from the settlement between the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) and 14 mortgage servicers involving review of foreclosures from 2009-2010. Individuals can obtain more information about this settlement by visiting the Independent Foreclosure Review page.

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