Goldman Sachs Nears $1 Billion of Consumer Relief Under Mortgage Settlements

BOSTON, May 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs has all but reached the $1-billion mark in credit towards fulfilling a $1.8-billion consumer-relief obligation under its two April 11, 2016, mortgage-related settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and three states, Eric D. Green announced today in his seventh report as independent Monitor of the consumer-relief portions of the agreements.

Since Professor Green's previous report on February 15, 2018, Goldman Sachs forgave a total of $61,610,295 in principal on 666 first-lien mortgages, for average principal forgiveness of $92,508 per loan and total reportable credit of $75,278,610 after the application of appropriate crediting calculations and multipliers.

The latest increment brought the total amount of credit claimed and conditionally validated by the Monitor to $993,420,822, or 55 percent of the $1.8-billion target.

The modified mortgages are spread across 41 states and the District of Columbia, with 26 percent of the credit located in the settling states of New York, Illinois, and California, and 45 percent of the credit located in Hardest Hit Areas, or census tracts identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as containing large concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosure activities.

The report also describes additional testing of a portion of the credit claimed by Goldman Sachs in the periods covered by the November 15, 2017 report and the February 15, 2018 report. "The validation of credit in those reports was subject to additional testing pursuant to protocols agreed upon by the Monitor and Goldman Sachs. This testing has now been satisfactorily completed," Professor Green said.

The two agreements settled potential and filed legal claims against Goldman Sachs 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 goldmansachsmonitor@mortgagesettlementmonitor.com.

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SOURCE Monitor: Eric D. Green