Ohio AG Announces Toothless Settlement Agreement With Loan Servicer Over Allegedly Inadequate Loan Modification Practices

From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General:

• Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine [] announced an agreement with American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. (AHMSI) to settle a 2009 lawsuit filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that alleged AHMSI violated Ohio consumer law by providing inadequate services to consumers seeking loan modifications.



• "This agreement will help Ohio homeowners receive fair, improved and faster treatment when negotiating a loan modification or trying to avoid foreclosure," Attorney General DeWine said. "We are pleased that American Home Mortgage Servicing has worked with our office to reach this settlement and to help Ohioans."



• In the settlement, the Attorney General and AHMSI agree to mortgage servicing standards that will apply to all AHMSI-serviced Ohio loans. The servicing standards include:
  
  1) Borrowers who complete a loan modification application will be assigned a single point of contact with AHMSI.
  2) AHMSI will implement a specific timeline for all loan modification requests.
  3) AHMSI will temporarily suspend foreclosures when a borrower completes a loan modification application and will implement an internal review process for denied loan modifications.
  4) AHMSI will no longer assert in loss mitigation agreements that consumers have no right to claims against lenders or holders of notes.

For the Ohio Attorney General press release, see Attorney General DeWine Announces Settlement with American Home Mortgage Servicing.