纽约州过期抵押贷款追讨案落槌：债务买家支付逾48万美元并放弃追讨过期债务，涉3000多笔次级贷款与140多起强拍诉讼
美国纽约州总检察长 Letitia James 10月23日宣布，州总检察长办公室（Office of the Attorney General, OAG）已让一组债务买家为纽约州房主支付逾48万美元款项并提供额外债务减免：这组公司曾试图向面临法拍（foreclosure）的房主追讨已经过期的抵押贷款还款。涉案公司包括 BCMB1 Trust、First Age, LLC、NS194, LLC、Second Start, LLC、Southern MBA Trust 及其关联公司，它们在全州买入了数以千计的违约抵押贷款，其中多数是2008年金融危机前夕发放的贷款。
总检察长办公室的调查发现，这些债务买家收购的多为次级抵押贷款（second mortgages）：金融危机前夕，贷款机构常把一笔购房融资拆成两笔——占房价80%的主贷款与利率更高的20%次级贷款。经济衰退期间，许多房主修改了主贷款条款继续还款，持有次级贷款的公司却因房价大跌、贷款几近无价值而多年不闻不问，房主多年收不到账单、无从还款。调查认定，涉案公司自2019年起在纽约州收购了3,000多笔这类「僵尸」次级贷款，其后提起140多起法拍诉讼，要求房主偿还全部本金以及最长回溯12年的利息，违反了纽约州禁止追讨逾期超过六年贷款还款的时效规定。
根据处理结果，涉案公司须支付24万美元罚金，并向已经偿还或同意偿还过期债务的消费者提供逾24.2万美元赔偿；公司同时被禁止今后再追讨过期债务，并须修改所有进行中的法拍诉讼请求，剔除其中已过期的债务部分。Letitia James 表示：「任何纽约人都不应因为一家掠夺性公司要求偿还早已过期的抵押贷款而面临失去住房的风险。这些公司在非法向那些在大衰退期间努力保住住房的房主索要钱财。」
总检察长办公室呼吁，认为自己遭遇不当法拍的房主可通过该办公室消费者欺诈与保护局在线提交投诉，或拨打1-800-771-7755。
来源：GSM·美国
New York Settles Expired-Mortgage Collection Case: Debt Buyers to Pay More Than $480,000 and Drop Expired-Debt Demands in 3,000-Loan, 140-Lawsuit Sweep
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on October 23 that her office has secured more than $480,000 and additional debt relief for New York homeowners from a group of debt buyers that attempted to collect expired mortgage payments from homeowners facing foreclosure. The companies, including BCMB1 Trust; First Age, LLC; NS194, LLC; Second Start, LLC; Southern MBA Trust, and their affiliates, bought thousands of defaulted mortgage loans across the state, most of them originated in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that many of the loans were second mortgages. In the years before the financial crisis, lenders often financed a home purchase with two mortgages — a primary mortgage for 80 percent of the price and a higher-rate second mortgage for the remaining 20 percent. During the Great Recession, many homeowners modified their primary mortgages and kept paying, while the holders of the second mortgages often made no attempt to collect because falling property values had made the loans essentially worthless, leaving homeowners with no statements and no way to pay or resolve the debt. The OAG found that beginning in 2019, the debt buyers collectively acquired more than 3,000 of these 'zombie' second mortgages in New York and filed more than 140 foreclosure lawsuits seeking the full principal balance plus interest going back as far as 12 years, in violation of New York's statute of limitations, which bars collecting loan payments that are more than six years past due.
Under the outcome, the companies must pay $240,000 in penalties and provide more than $242,000 in restitution to consumers who paid or agreed to pay back expired debt. They are also barred from seeking to collect expired debt payments in the future and must amend their demands in existing foreclosure cases to exclude any expired debt. 'No New Yorker should face losing their home to a predatory company demanding mortgage payments that have long since expired,' Attorney General James said. 'These companies are illegally demanding money from homeowners who worked hard to keep their homes during the Great Recession.'
The Attorney General's Office asks any homeowner who believes they have been subject to an improper foreclosure to file a complaint online with the OAG's Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau or call 1-800-771-7755.
Source: GSM·USA
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：纽约州议会大厦（Albany，资料图）。摄影：Matt H. Wade，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The New York State Capitol in Albany (file photo), by Matt H. Wade, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
