Arizona homeowners eligible for $6.6 million from HSBC

“We are pleased to have reached this settlement and believe it is a positive result that benefits American homeowners and the USA housing industry”, Kathy Madison, CEO of HSBC Finance Corp., said in a statement.

HSBC was accused of robo-signing foreclosure orders, improper document and the loss of critical paperwork.

Eligible borrowers will be contacted about how to qualify for payments.

“California homeowners worked hard and played by the rules to stay in their homes during the housing crisis, but for too many, their struggle and sacrifice was met by abusive mortgage servicing practices”, said Harris. That settlement provided borrowers across the US with more than $50 billion in direct relief while creating new servicing standards and implementing independent oversight.

Wasden said an estimated 321 Idaho borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure because of HSBC’s servicing practices can seek payment from the national $59 million fund. The payments are intended for borrowers who lost their homes between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2012.

The HSBC agreement requires the company to provide various types of relief to mortgage holders, such as principal reductions and refinancing for underwater mortgages.

The New York Attorney General’s office said the HSBC accord largely mirrored a 2012 national mortgage settlement that federal and state officials struck with five of the country’s largest banks, including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. By the end of the one-year period specified in the agreement, HSBC must have met all of its $370 million loan modification obligations. HSBC decides how many loans and which loans to modify, but must meet certain minimum targets.

According to an announcement from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, the settlement requires HSBC to “substantially change” how it services mortgage loans, handles foreclosures and ensures the accuracy of information provided in federal bankruptcy court.

The National Mortgage Settlement’s independent monitor, Joseph A. Smith Jr., will oversee HSBC’s compliance with the settlement terms for one year. “This settlement holds HSBC accountable for its abusive practices and ensures HSBC will treat its borrowers more fairly in the future”. The penalty is being assessed in conjunction with an agreement involving similar deficiencies that HSBC announced Friday with the U.S. Department of Justice, other federal agencies, and the state attorneys general. Additionally, the agreement does not prevent any action by individual borrowers who wish to bring their own lawsuits.

HSBC said that as part of the agreement, authorities agreed to release the bank from civil claims related to past residential mortgage loan origination, servicing and foreclosure practices.

The agreement will be filed as a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court of Columbia.