SunTrust pays off mortgage settlement obligation

The company has paid more than half a billion dollars in consumer relief for alleged servicing and foreclosure abuses

SunTrust pays off mortgage settlement obligation
SunTrust has satisfied its consumer relief obligations under the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), according to Joseph Smith Jr., the monitor of the NMS.

The bank was one of several that, in 2014, settled with federal and state authorities from 49 states over alleged servicing and foreclosure abuses. As part of the settlement, the companies agreed to provide consumer relief to certain borrowers.

Smith has credited SunTrust with total consumer relief credit of approximately $502.8 million to 22,327 borrowers through Dec. 31, 2016. Additionally, Smith said that based on tests in the third and fourth quarters of 2016, the company did not fail any of its compliance metrics.

Under the settlement, SunTrust agreed to provide $500 million in consumer relief by Sept. 30. Of that amount, $475 million should be mortgage loan relief to distress borrowers, while the remainder should be used in a refinancing program to current borrowers who would be unqualified for the company’s other refinancing programs.

Of the total claimed credit, 31% went to second-lien portfolio modifications, 20% for new lending programs, 21% for first-lien mortgage modifications, 9% for refinancing programs, and 19% for other creditable items.

As part of the settlement, SunTrust is evaluated for compliance with servicing standards under 34 metrics or tests which determine adherence to 304 servicing standards in the NMS.

Although Smith said he would stop reporting on SunTrust’s consumer relief obligations, he will continue to monitor and report on its compliance with servicing standards.


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