BofA, Morgan Stanley To Spring For $22.4M To Settle Suits Alleging Illegal Foreclosures Against Active Duty Servicemembers

Bloomberg reports:

• Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley units will pay $22.4 million to resolve U.S. allegations that they improperly foreclosed on active-duty soldiers, including some who suffered severe injuries, without first obtaining court orders.
• The Bank of America unit will pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit alleging improper foreclosure on about 160 members of the military between 2006 and 2009, the Justice Department said in a statement []. Morgan Stanley’s Saxon Mortgage Services Inc. unit will pay $2.35 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging it improperly foreclosed on 17 service members from 2006 to 2009. [...] The foreclosures violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which was enacted to shield deployed military personnel from financial stress, according to the Justice Department.(1)

For more, see BofA, Morgan Stanley Settle Claims on Military Foreclosures.

(1) For more from the U.S. Department of Justice:

• Press release: Justice Department Settles with Bank of America and Saxon Mortgage for Illegally Foreclosing on Servicemembers (Settlement Includes a Minimum of $22 Million in Relief for Victims);
• Assistant AG comments: Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez Speaks on Settlements with Bank of America and Saxon Mortgage ("On average, each victim in the Saxon case will receive $130,555 in monetary damages; in the Countrywide settlement, each victim will receive approximately $125,000 in monetary damages.").
• United States v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, LP f/k/a Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, LP (C.D. Cal.): Memorandum of Agreement, Lawsuit; Proposed consent order;
• United States v. Saxon Morgage Services Inc. (N.D. Tex.): Lawsuit, Proposed consent order.