The Attorney General has obtained a broad-ranging settlement from five major banks. If you are a homeowner struggling to pay your mortgage or facing foreclosure, or if you have already lost your home to foreclosure, it is possible that this settlement could help you. Not every homeowner will qualify for relief under the settlement. Those who do qualify may receive various forms of relief depending on their circumstances. Available forms of relief include: payments to borrowers who were wrongly foreclosed upon; reduction of unpaid principal balances; refinancing for borrowers whose homes are worth less than the money they owe; and the opportunity for short sales and other relocation assistance.

For detailed information about the settlement, please visit the National Mortgage Settlement website.

To find out if you may be eligible for a loan modification, refinance, short sale or other foreclosure prevention relief under the settlement, you will need to contact your mortgage servicer. To find the servicer on your loan, look for a contact phone number on your mortgage statement. Contact the bank or servicer listed on the statement to ask who services or owns your mortgage loan. For more details, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.

The mortgage servicers participating in the settlement agreement are Citibank, JP Morgan Chase/Washington Mutual, Bank of America/Countrywide, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and Ally Financial.

If your loan was owned or serviced by any of the settling banks, and your home was foreclosed upon between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011, you may be eligible to receive a cash payment as part of the settlement. A settlement administrator has been appointed to accept claims and to oversee the distribution of settlement payments. Information about the settlement administrator is available at www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com. The e-mail address for the administrator is administrator@nationalmortgagesettlement.com The administrator can also be called toll-free at 1-866-430-8358. The settlement administrator will be sending claim forms to consumers eligible for restitution over a several week period beginning in September, 2012. If you believe you are eligible for a settlement payment but have not received a claim form by the end of October, 2012 please contact the settlement administrator directly. Claim forms must be submitted by no later than January 18, 2013

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