What Does the National Foreclosure Settlement Mean for Virginia Mortgage Holders--and Everybody Else?

49 state Attorneys General have reached a $25 Billion foreclosure fraud settlement with five big banks:  Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

Info for All Taxpayers:

• WaPo: Experts React with lots of variants on too little, very late but better than nothing.
  
• Business Week: How The Settlement Will Increase Foreclosures Nationwide.
• Naked Capitalism: Top 12 Reasons to Hate the Foreclosure Settlement.
• CalculatedRISK: There is a $700 B gap between house values and underwater mortgages--the settlement is 5% of total.   The settlement barely touches the problem of negative equity.

Info For Virginia Mortgage Holders:

• Video: Va's AG Cuccinelli on Commonwealth Participation.
• Virginia is #8 of States with negative equity.
• The Charlottesville Albemarle Area is rife with effective negative equity.
• The banks have three years to enact relief.  Three years.  Which means that in many cases, they won't have to.

Virginia will get $479.6 M: 

• $31 M to those who experienced foreclosure abuses from 1/1/2008 to 12/31/2011.  
• $409 M will be used for principal reduction and mortgage modifications.  
• $69.6 M will be paid to the Commonweath as penalty.

 What it may do:

• Up to 15,000 mortgage holders may qualify.
• Those who have had houses lost to foreclosure may qualify for a payment, spread over three years, of $800-$2k.
• Mortgage holders who owe more than the house is worth may see their principal reduced by up to $20k.

You can see if you qualify at the National Mortgage Settlement website:

• About the Settlement
• Who May Be Eligible
• FAQ

The Washington Post has an easy-to-follow narrative about who may be eligible.
See also Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's website.