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Nearly 200,000 borrowers want foreclosure review

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Nearly 200,000 borrowers have requested a review of their mortgage foreclosures to see if they are eligible to receive compensation or other remedies because of errors in foreclosure actions on their homes, according to releases by the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Thursday. The agencies also extended until September 30 the deadline for borrowers to submit their requests to bank regulators. The foreclosure reviews are required by major banks that were sanctioned by the OCC and other regulators in April for "negligence" in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processes. Borrowers are eligible for a review if their mortgage was active in the foreclosure process between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2010. As part of the review, independent consultants have selected 144,817 mortgage files from the servicers' portfolios to be checked. Separately, borrowers who believe they were wrongfully foreclosed upon may also soon be eligible to apply and receive compensation from a $1.5 billion fund being established as part of a broad $26 billion bank settlement with states and the federal government reached in February.