Banks required balloon payments, stayed mum on foreclosure moratorium

From The Real Deal:

Big banks led some consumers into financially risky mortgage agreements instead of offering the full relief program touted by the federal government, according to a report analyzing complaints.

Detailing the practices of 13 large banks in those cases, researchers found that banks regularly offered forbearance as the only option to homeowners — sometimes requiring balloon payments at the end of the grace period, or putting the loans in forbearance without getting the borrower’s permission.

Banks also often did not inform those borrowers of other options to refinance their mortgage and did not publicly advertise the federal government’s broad restrictions on foreclosures and evictions for federally backed mortgages.

To gain insight into the practices of the banks, the Committee for Better Banks, which includes progressive groups, labor unions and current and former bank employees, analyzed 191 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints for Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Capital One, Citibank, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC North America, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Santander, TD Bank, Truist Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo.