Monitor Report: Goldman Sachs Completes 90% of $1.8B Target for Consumer-Relief Under Mortgage Settlements

BOSTON, May 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs has successfully completed 90% of the consumer relief required of it under its 2016 settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and three states as of April 29, 2020, according to the May 22 report by the Independent Monitor of the settlements, Professor Eric D. Green. According to Professor Green, Goldman Sachs is continuing to make steady progress towards fulfilling its obligation to provide $1.8 billion in consumer relief under those settlements.

It is the Monitor's fourteenth report since the April 11, 2016 settlement.

According to Professor Green, in the 19 weeks covered by the most recent report, through April 29, 2020 Goldman Sachs forgave the balances due on 739 first lien mortgages, representing total principal forgiveness of $74,501,682 and an average first lien principal forgiveness of $100,814. Total reportable credits amounted to $74,456,571 after the application of appropriate crediting calculations and multipliers. The modified mortgages are spread across 43 states and the District of Columbia, with 35% of the credit located in the three settling states and 45% of the credit in 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).

Goldman Sachs also forgave amounts due and previously deferred on 19 first lien mortgages for a total forgiveness of $1,212,419, an average forgiveness of $63,812, and a total reportable credit of $1,346,694 after the application of appropriate crediting calculations and multipliers. The loans are spread across 10 states, with 3% of the credit in the three Settling States and 47% of the credit in Hardest Hit Areas.

The consumer relief provided in the most recent period brings the total relief provided by Goldman Sachs to $1,623,130,850 the Monitor said in the report.

"Thus, a little more than four years after the Settlement Agreements were signed, Goldman Sachs appears to be approximately 90% toward completing its Consumer Relief obligations," Professor Green said in the report, which again noted data suggesting Goldman Sachs has now exceeded the minimum amount of credit that must be earned in each of the three settling states of California, Illinois, and New York.

Goldman Sachs' two settlement agreements resolved potential claims regarding the marketing, structuring, arrangement, underwriting, issuance and sale of mortgage-based securities. Besides the Department of Justice, California, Illinois and New York, Goldman Sachs reached settlements with the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Des Moines. Under the settlements, Goldman Sachs 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.

Professor 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. He has assembled a team of finance, accounting and legal professionals to assist in the task.

The report is available at the Monitor's website at: http://goldmansachs.mortgagesettlementmonitor.com. The website provides further details about the settlement, plus contact information for Goldman Sachs, the Department of Justice, the Attorneys General of California, Illinois and New York, and agencies that provide legal or tax advice to consumers.

The Monitor's mailing address is: Monitor of the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Settlement, P.O. Box 10310, Dublin, OH 43017-5910, and the e-mail address is [email protected].

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SOURCE Eric D. Green