The company must provide a total of $1.8 billion in consumer relief
Goldman Sachs has complied with more than half of its obligations to provide consumer relief worth $1.8 billion under mortgage-related settlements it entered in April 2016, according to Eric Green, the independent monitor of the agreements’ consumer-relief portions.
Since the monitor’s previous report on Nov. 15, the company has forgiven the balances due on 806 first-lien mortgages representing total principal forgiveness of approximately $73.5 million. The average principal forgiveness per borrower is $91,202.
As a result, Goldman Sachs claimed about $97.2 million in reportable credit against its $1.8 billion obligation. The total amount of credit claimed and conditionally validated to date under both settlement agreements comes to approximately $918.1 million.
"Approximately 22 months after the settlement agreements were signed, Goldman Sachs appears to be a bit more than halfway toward completing its consumer-relief obligations," Green said.
The relief covered in the latest report was spread across 41 states and the District of Columbia, with 35% of the credit located in the settling states of New York, Illinois, and California. Thirty-seven percent of the loans were located in “Hardest Hit Areas,” or those designated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to have the largest concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosure activity.
The consumer-relief obligations are part of two agreements entered by Goldman Sachs with the Department of Justice and the states of California, Illinois, and New York to settle potential and filed legal claims related to mortgage-backed securities. The company agreed to provide a total of $5.06 billion, including consumer relief valued at $1.8 billion to be distributed by the end of January 2021.
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