Goldman Sachs is approaching the billion-dollar mark for mandated consumer-relief actions stemming from two mortgage-related settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and three states. Professor Eric D. Green, who serves as independent Monitor for the company’s consumer-relief agreements, announced this week that Goldman Sachs has thus far provided $993,420,822 in consumer relief, or 55 percent of the $1.8-billion target.
Eric D. Green, a professional mediator and retired Boston University law professor, was named by the settling parties as independent monitor with responsibility for determining whether Goldman Sachs fulfills its consumer-relief obligations.
Since his previous report on February 15, 2018, Goldman Sachs has forgiven $61,610,295 in principal on 666 first-lien mortgages, Professor Green reported. The average principal forgiveness for the loans was $92,508, and the reportable credit toward the total owed was $75,278,610, “after the application of appropriate crediting calculations and multipliers.”
The modified mortgages were located in 41 different states and the District of Columbia. Professor Green also reported that 26 percent of the relief occurred in New York, Illinois, and California, and 45 percent of the credit was in the Hardest Hit Areas, “census tracts identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as containing large concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosure activities.”
According to the media statement, the 2016 Goldman Sachs settlement stemmed from “legal claims against Goldman Sachs regarding the marketing, structuring, arrangement, underwriting, issuance, and sale of mortgage-based securities.” Goldman Sachs settled with the DOJ, California, Illinois, and New York, as well as the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Des Moines.
Goldman Sachs has until the end of January 2021 to meet its requirement of paying “a total of $5.06 billion, including consumer relief valued at $1.8 billion.”