Bank of America to Pay Military Members For Improper Foreclosures

By Travis Waldron, ThinkProgress

10 April 13

ank of America will pay $36.8 million to members of the military it improperly foreclosed on between 2006 and 2010, according to a settlement it reached with the federal government in 2011, the Justice Department announced this week.

Bank of America was already paying 142 military members under the original 2011 agreement, but a further review required by the settlement found 155 additional military homeowners who were subject to improper foreclosures, the Justice Department said. In total, Bank of America will pay more than 300 military members, as Reuters reports:

Each of 316 service members will receive at least $116,785, plus compensation and with interest, for any home equity lost. [...]

"Our men and women in the military should not have to worry about a bank foreclosing on their home while they bravely serve our country," Eric Halperin, Special Counsel for Fair Lending in the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

In 2011, federal regulators said banks may have improperly foreclosed on more than 5,000 members of the military and violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which provides certain financial protections to military members. Bank of America was also one of the five banks that reached a settlement with the federal government over widespread mortgage and foreclosure abuses. The Justice Department is still reviewing foreclosures from all five banks for violations of the Servicemembers act.