WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of homeowners who took out mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. will soon receive their slice of a $108 million settlement over claims that the lender charged outsized fees to borrowers facing foreclosure.
The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that it will mail refund checks to 450,177 borrowers starting Thursday.
The action is part of a settlement agreement the agency reached last year with Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide in 2008.
The FTC claimed Countrywide hit borrowers who were behind on their mortgages with fees of several thousand dollars at times. The fees were for such services as property inspections and landscaping that far exceeded market rates. Countrywide created subsidiaries to hire vendors, which marked up the price for such services, the agency said.
In addition, the FTC accused Countrywide of making false claims to some borrowers about how much they owed on their mortgage or the status of their loan, and claimed the lender added fees and other charges to borrowers’ mortgage accounts without notice.
The allegations that led to the settlement took place before Bank of America acquired Countrywide.
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