It is difficult to imagine any real impact in Maine from the recent mortgage fraud settlement.  According to press reports, Maine is slotted to receive approximately $21 million in benefits, but it appears that almost no one really knows how the settlement funds will be used or disbursed.  The current informaton suggests that if you are a homeowner that is eligible the lenders will contact you.  If your house has been foreclosed, you should notify the attorney general.  The informational website is http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/ The record of the banks to provide genuine mortgage relief to appropriate homeowners is terrible. 

My experience so far is that HAMP and other modifications by large national banks are, at best, chaotic and irrational.  "In House" modifications can be slightly more sensible, but the process takes months even in the mortgage diversion program required under Maine statute.  In a pending case, the bank rejected a proposal because the homeowner had too much income.  A few months later the bank rejected the same homewner because he has too little income--this is a homeowner who was less than a year in arrears and only wanted to recapitalize the unpaid interest!  The banks are using predictive formulas to evaluate modifications that have no consideration to the reality of a working couple with children desperate to stay in their home.  The apparatchiks who administer these programs have insufficient authority and experience to make the kinds of judgments necessary to move things forward. 

Don't expect this band aid to change that although I expect it will be a windfall for some and state AGs will spend a lot of time patting themselves on the back.