Banks to Pay Billions in Wrongful Foreclosure Settlement

Federal regulators announced an $8.5 billion settlement on Monday involving 10 of the big banks in the United States over wrongful foreclosures.The deal has been agreed to in principle. It includes $3.3 billion in direct payments to borrowers as well as $5.2 billion in other assistance.The agreement covers borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010.In Santa Barbara County the number of foreclosures were at an all-time high in 2010. Since then, the County Recorders Office says the number of foreclosures has dropped.”We’re beginning to see a decrease in the total foreclosures county wide,” Recorder Joe Holland said, “It use to be in the last few years that we had about 1,500 foreclosures and now we’re down to about 900.”The numbers are still historically high but are trending down.Homeowners impacted by bad foreclosures in 2009 and 2010 could collect up to $125,000.