CHASE To Pay $50M To More Than 25,000 Homeowners

The U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) has entered into a national settlement agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Chase) requiring Chase to pay more than $50 million including cash payments, mortgage loan credits and loan forgiveness to over 25,000 homeowners who are or were in bankruptcy, according to a USTP press release today. Chase will also change internal operations and submit to oversight by an independent compliance reviewer. The proposed settlement has been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, where it is subject to court approval. In the proposed settlement, Chase acknowledges that, in bankruptcy courts around the country, it filed more than 50,000 payment change notices that were improperly signed, under penalty of perjury, by persons who had not reviewed the accuracy of the notices. More than 25,000 notices were signed in the names of former employees or of employees who had nothing to do with reviewing the accuracy of the filings. The rest of the notices were signed by individuals employed by a third-party vendor on matters unrelated to checking the accuracy of the filings. Chase also acknowledges that it failed to file timely, accurate notices of mortgage payment changes and failed to provide timely, accurate escrow statements.