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| Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks on Flickr |
It was with great fanfare that the
Obama administration, alongside nearly every state’s attorney general,
announced in February that a $25 billion accord had been reached with
the nation’s five biggest banks, settling charges that the banks engaged
in widespread foreclosure fraud. Those billions were intended to
provide relief to struggling homeowners, using the banks’ own money to
help the victims of Wall Street malfeasance.
“These
banks will put billions of dollars towards relief for families across
the nation,” President Obama said. “They’ll provide refinancing for
borrowers that are stuck in high interest rate mortgages. They’ll
reduce loans for families who owe more on their homes than they’re
worth. “
However, more than a
dozen states across the country are doing their best to undermine the
settlement by diverting the funds to other areas of their budgets.
Arizona recently became the latest state to do so, taking $50 million
meant to aid homeowners and instead plowing it into the state’s general
fund (after scrapping an earlier plan to use the money to pay for prison
construction). READ MORE
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