Last year Countrywide Banking & Home Loans reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission totalling $108 million for overcharging nearly 450,000 homeowners before the struggling mortgage lender was bought out by Bank of America.
These charges started over 3 years ago when Countrywide overcharged for inspections, home maintenance, lawn mowing and other services for borrowers who were in default. Rather than finding local vendors, Countrywide hired their own subsidiary companies to hire the vendors, which entailed marking up the fees.
Another category of overcharges stemmed from added fees to the escrow accounts of those borrowers who entered into Chapter 13 bankruptcy. These borrowers were not notified of the change in fee structure so they are also entitled to a refund.
Read the full story here.
