More than 38,300 Ohioans who lost their homes to foreclosure will receive about $1,100 each through the National Mortgage Settlement.
The checks should arrive sometime over the summer, said Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller.
The settlement, finalized last year with the country’s five largest mortgage servicers after investigations into mortgage fraud and abuse, set aside $1.5 billion in cash for 1.7 million borrowers nationwide who lost their homes from 2008 through 2011.
Ohioans will split $44.9 million. There were 55,086 eligible foreclosure cases in the state, but only 38,314 claims were filed for a share of the cash.
“It was always expected that there wouldn’t be a 100 percent claim submission rate,” said Dan Tierney, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
The National Mortgage Settlement — a joint effort of the federal government, 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia — mailed out claim forms to borrowers last fall. The deadline to apply was Jan. 18, although some trickled in late.
The settlement administrator is now sifting through the nationwide claims and working through issues such as divorced couples who both submitted forms, Greenwood said.
Ohio authorities earlier had estimated that each eligible borrower in the state would receive $840, but the amount always was tied to the number of people filing claims.
Janice Adams, 56, of New Franklin, who along with her husband, John, lost their home a few years ago, is happy that some money is coming their way. But it doesn’t make up for the pain experienced in the foreclosure process, she said.
“No, not at all,” she said. “We were not happy with the bank and we were not happy having a foreclosure on our [record]. ... We ended up losing the house in a manner we didn’t want to.”
Janice Adams, who cleans houses, said they went into foreclosure after interest payments ballooned. They tried to sell the home through a short sale, but that fell through because of the bank, she said.
The five mortgage companies involved are Ally, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Authorities have not said how many borrowers in the Akron area were eligible.
The five mortgage companies filed about 4,000 foreclosure lawsuits during that four-year period in Summit County. But not all lawsuits led to a foreclosure.
Last week, the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight released a report showing that 7,465 borrowers in Ohio have received $280 million worth of assistance so far through a variety of programs as part of the agreement, including refinancing, short sales and the forgiving of liens.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.