Jacksonville, Fla.-based lender EverBank has agreed to pay approximately $37 million in cash payments to more than 32,000 mortgage borrowers, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on Friday.
Borrowers whose homes were in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 with EverBank will receive cash payments ranging from $1,050 to $125,000, plus equity where appropriate.
In addition, EverBank has agreed to pay about $6.3 million to organizations certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other tax-exempt organizations that provide affordable housing, foreclosure prevention and/or educational assistance to low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
The settlement stems from a cease-and-desist order for unsafe and unsound practices in mortgage servicing and foreclosure processing that the OCC brought against EverBank and other institutions in 2011. By agreeing to compensate the affected customers and housing agencies, EverBank will end the independent foreclosure review process required by the order.
EverBank is also required to evaluate each eligible borrower still in the process of foreclosure and issue a new loan modification where investor contracts allow. What's more, it must establish a process to resolve borrower complaints regarding credit report errors.
Previously, the OCC and the Federal Reserve entered into amendments to orders with Aurora Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, GMAC Mortgage, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
OCC examiners continue to monitor the servicers' efforts to correct the unsafe or unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices, as required by the orders previously issued against the servicers.
Borrowers who are eligible will be contacted directly by a third-party paying agent and will receive compensation whether or not they filed a request-for-review form. To be eligible for compensation, borrowers are not required to take any additional action.
Additional information regarding payments will be announced in the near future, the OCC said in a statement.
