Federal bank regulators settled with mortgage lenders on Wednesday over deceptive foreclosure practices.

Fourteen mortgage serviders have signed consent orders with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other regulators, promising to improve their processing systems and treat delinquent borrowers better. Among the servicers included in the agreements are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and GMAC. The agreements will be executed next week.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision have spent the last week completing the settlement. The fourteen servicers have agreed to repay homeowners for losses from foreclosures or loans that were mishandled. The banks must determine the financial injury to borrowers and submit a plan for reimbursing them within the next 6 months.

“These comprehensive enforcement actions, coordinated among the federal banking regulators, require major reforms in mortgage servicing operations,” said John Walsh, acting Comptroller of the Currency. “These reforms will not only fix problems we found in foreclosure processing, but will also correct failures in governance and the loan modification process and address financial harm to borrowers.”

If you are facing foreclosure, please contact a Maryland Mortgage Modification Attorney of Chaifetz & Coyle, P.C. by calling 443-546-4608.