Bank of America/Countrywide Ripoff? A wise person reminds me of the math regarding last week’s Bank of America/Countrywide settlement announced by the Department of Justice: 200,000 plaintiffs… $335M – that’s about $1,500 each. 1% extra on a $200,000 loan is $2,000 a year. Was Bank of America/Countrywide required to drop the interest rate on these loans which would be worth more than the settlement amount of $1,500 each?
And will they find people or will this be Pigford Part 2? Read the Wall Street Journal: “The Justice Department faces the daunting task of tracking down more than 210,000 alleged victims and determining how to compensate them, following last week’s $335 million fair-lending settlement with Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide unit. Minority borrowers who suffered the greatest harm from Countrywide’s allegedly discriminatory mortgage-lending practices could be the most difficult to locate, observers say, because they are the victims most likely to have lost their homes to foreclosure and subsequently moved several times.”
