Hundreds Of State Borrowers In Countrywide Settlement

HARTFORD — Countrywide Financial Corporation has mailed payments of more than $3,400 to hundreds of Connecticut residents as part of a multistate settlement.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Monday, February 15, that the checks were sent to 370 state residents who lost, or could lose, their homes because of Countrywide’s “abusive and unfair” home loan practices.

He said the payments were part of an $8.4 billion nationwide settlement. Mr Blumenthal said they provide “a measure of justice and remedy” to people who need the money to rebuild their lives.

Mr Blumenthal, who is also a US Senate candidate seeking retiring Senator Chris Dodd’s seat, was one of several state attorneys general to sue Countrywide in 2008.

He alleged various abuses, such as inflating customers’ incomes to qualify them for loans and selling loans for more expensive terms than promised. Coincidentally, it was the issuing of preferred mortgage rates to Senator Dodd from Countrywide that many political analysts say contributed to the veteran lawmaker’s downfall, and his eventual decision to retire from the seat he held since 1981.

Countrywide is now owned by Bank of America.

Associated Press content was used in this report.