Banks to Pay $22 Mil for Military Foreclosure Errors

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay more than $22 million combined to settle federal civil charges on improperly foreclosing on military personnel, The Associated Press reports.

Between 2006 and 2009, the mortgage lenders foreclosed on 178 military members in 22 states without getting court approval. The military members affected will each receive $125,562, on average. The banks will also continue to investigate whether improper foreclosures occurred in 2009 through 2010.

The settlement is "easily the largest amount recovered" in a case of improper military foreclosures, Thomas E. Perez, an assistant attorney general, told The Associated Press.

The Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act offers protections to military personnel to prevent foreclosures. It bans evictions or creditors trying to repossess their property while on active duty.

JPMorgan Chase earlier this year admitted to overcharging about 4,000 military personnel on mortgages and wrongly foreclosing on 14. It paid $2 million in settlement charges originally and last month paid more than $60 million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding the overcharges.