Thanks for posting this story. From the article:
Mr. Curry recalled a pivotal moment in November 2012 that came as he reviewed the consultants’ compensation. He detected a stunning contrast with their $2 billion payday: “We were still not ready to compensate the first borrower,” he said.
The comptroller’s office, he said, “came to the realization that maintaining our course would significantly delay compensation without appreciable benefit to the affected borrowers. I decided we needed to change direction.” The Federal Reserve, which also oversaw the review, agreed.
The regulators instead opted to strike a multibillion-dollar settlement with the nation’s largest banks, ordering them to make $3.6 billion in cash payments to homeowners. Regulators expect to dole out the first payments to homeowners in late March.
To accelerate the payments, the comptroller’s office decided to cut the consultants out altogether. Instead, according to people involved in the process, regulators are turning to the banks for help. The banks will now have to assess each loan for potential errors, which will help determine the size of the payments to homeowners.
The article goes on to point out that, under the terms of the agreement, "...banks have already agreed to pay a fixed amount to homeowners, regardless of what they find in the loan files."
Recap: Price Waterhouse et al skimmed $2 billion from the foreclosure crisis without one thin dime going to home owners before the comptroller's office shut down the foreclosure review process. The banks were paying the consultants to do the reviews. It sounds like they got exactly what they paid for.
The new agreement apparently caps both the banks' liabilities and homeowners' recovery payments, and puts the banks in charge of reviewing their own practices...
Rust never sleeps. The ethos and culture of looting is endemic to our financial system. The consultant scam is replaced by the consent agreement/self-policing scam and the plundering continues unchecked.
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