30
JPMORGAN BEGINS TO
OFFER HOMEOWNER RELIEF
In accordance with the terms of its settle-
ment with the government, JPMorgan has
begun the process of providing debt forgive-
ness and other mortgage relief to struggling
homeowners.
Joseph A. Smith Jr., who received a joint
appointment from the bank and the govern-
ment to monitor compliance with the terms
of the agreement, released his initial report
outlining the first steps taken in what will be a
long process of the bank disbursing $4 billion
in loan aid.
Under the terms of the agreement struck
in 2013, the bank obtains credit for relief that
it provides in four major categories: modifica-
tion, rate reduction/refinancing, low income
and disaster area lending, and anti-blight
lending.
Some categories are worth more to the
settlement than others, so the credit given is not
dollar-for-dollar. e report asserted that the
bank has amassed $6.3 million in credit so far.
To get the credit, JPMorgan submitted 100
loans for review. Much more is still to come.
Smith characterized the first steps as a "dry
run".
e bank has until 2017 to fulfill the
requirements under the settlement and Mr.
Smith maintains that there is not yet enough
information to determine whether the bank is
on schedule to meet the requirements. A more
thorough report is due out later this year.
e settlement was negotiated through the
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Work-
ing Group, a joint state and federal unit formed
in 2012 by President Obama to investigate
wrongdoing within the mortgage-backed secu-
rities market that helped to trigger, contribute
to, or exacerbate the U.S. financial crisis.
e settlement requires the bank to submit
quarterly reports that include a limited random
sample of loans as test cases for Mr. Smith to
make the determination of whether they are
living up to their obligations.
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