Read more about our year in review here! 

The three major banks (Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America) in America have racked up $6.4 billion in ATM fees of pure revenue from everyday consumers. This increase in revenue from ATM fees has skyrocketed by 22% since last year. Some ATMs around the country have fees reaching $4-$5 a transaction. With these large transaction fees, consumers are overdrafting from their accounts leading to even more unnecessary costs to be paid to the bank. Overdraft fees can average and hover around $35 each time a consumer draws out money when their account is below $0. These fees have strongly effected consumers that are poor. By law, consumers can opt-out of ATM overdraft fees, but have to navigate through a tedious system to do so. 

Banks say that they are protecting consumers with overdraft fees, but large banks are clearly gaining a large profit off of consumer frustrations and overdraft fees. Will banks continue to raise ATM and overdraft fees? 
You can read more about the increase in ATM transaction and overdraft fees here. 

Wells Fargo has been required, by the U.S. Trustee Department, to pay out a $3.45 million dividend to over 8000 homeowners over mail processing error. The large mortgage servicer delayed delivering mortgage statements to consumers going through bankruptcy. With the late delivery, it shortened homeowner's notice period regarding alterations to monthly mortgage payment amounts. 

You can read the full article here. 

Time is of the essence when dealing with a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or any other real estate related issue. Drewes Law regularly helps Minnesota homeowners dealing with consumer protection-related issues. Contact us now for more information or to schedule a free consultation.

In 2013, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency and the Federal Reserve System compelled over 29 mortgage servicing companies to disperse $10 billion to borrowers that went through foreclosure over a two year span. Payments were made to borrowers in the form of direct cash, or through foreclosure prevention assistance. 

Why did I get a check?

Consumers who had mortgages with one of the servicers under the Independent Foreclosure Review and went through foreclosure process on their home between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010 received checks in 2013. Many borrowers did not deposit those checks and now there is a fund of money remaining. A redistribution of funds plan was announced in November of 2015 to distribute the remaining funds that were not originally deposited out to consumers that did deposit checks. Consumers that did deposit their first check in 2013 are now receiving second checks of about $120.00. 

More information on the release of the payment can be read about here.

You can read more about the redistribution of funds here.

Drewes Law regularly helps Minnesota homeowners dealing with foreclosure-related issues. Contact us now for more information or to schedule a free consultation.

"Under Fannie Mae's new initiative, mortgage lenders that use The Work Number will not be required to obtain W-2's or pay stubs from applicants. Equifax will independently verify employment and income without the applicant needing to provide additional paperwork in some instances."

Equifax's cooperative relationship with quasi-governmental agency Fannie Mae is leading to 'financial innovations' not seen for a few years. I've got to wonder: if investors later find out their MBS portfolio is full of incorrect income figures, will the investors be able to sue Equifax for its faulty database?

Full Equifax press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fannie-mae-to-introduce-equifax-trended-data-and-verification-services-to-underwriting-platform-300161869.html