As part of today’s national settlement with the five biggest mortgage service banks, amid allegations of mass loan abuse and fraud, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has started looking for home owners to take payments.
It is a distribution of $196 million.
Some 20,000 Missourians already harmed by improper foreclosures are eligible for an individual $2,000 cash payment, each.
Borrowers with homes worth less than they owe and who are current on payments will split an estimated $38 million.
Koster says the largest pot is $87 million for borrowers at risk of foreclosure--“our job at the A.G.’s office is to help educate Missourians, which of these categories they might fall into, and how most quickly to benefit from today’s settlement.”
There is also a $41 million direct payment to the State.
Koster says he, as Attorney General, holds sole discretion how it is used. He says that sum is too large to entrust to an individual and must be handled by the legislature. Governor Jay Nixon wants it to defray cuts to higher education.
Kansas has its own settlement, estimated by Attorney General Derek Schmidt at more than $50 million.