Countrywide agrees to settle payment-collection claims
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PITTSBURGH — Countrywide Home Loans Inc. has agreed to pay a Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee $325,000 to settle allegations that the mortgage lender sought improper fees or payments from bankrupt homeowners and otherwise violated U.S. Bankruptcy Court orders and regulations in nearly 300 cases.
The settlement, the terms of which were filed with the court this week, must be approved by Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas P. Agresti. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for Aug. 11.
In court filings last year, Chapter 13 trustee Ronda J. Winnecour sought to compel Countrywide to provide loan histories in 293 cases and asked for sanctions against the company for losing or destroying checks paid by homeowners in foreclosure.
Countrywide, a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. of Calabasas, acknowledged errors in handling some debts, but had denied any systematic effort to thwart bankruptcy protections to collect money. The parent company was bought by Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., in a deal that closed July 1.
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