Countrywide in $13.5 mln North Carolina settlement
NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Two units of the former Countrywide Financial Corp, the mortgage lender now owned by Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), agreed to pay as much as $13.5 million to settle claims by North Carolina banking regulators that they overcharged customers on mortgages.
Countrywide Home Loans and Countrywide Mortgage Ventures will issue cash refunds of as much as $11.5 million to about 4,800 North Carolina borrowers, the state's Office of the Commissioner of Banks said on Thursday.
In addition, Countrywide agreed to make $2 million of grants to 26 non-profit housing counseling agencies in the state.
"Settlements like this that help consumers and change lending practices push us toward a better economy and help right some of the wrongs," North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement.
Bank of America is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Countrywide did not admit wrongdoing, cooperated fully with North Carolina, and is pleased to resolve the matter, spokesman Rick Simon said in an e-mailed statement.
The settlement is separate from Bank of America's agreement in October with regulators in North Carolina and 10 other U.S. states to modify nearly 400,000 mortgages, in a program worth as much as $8.4 billion.
Countrywide had been the nation's largest mortgage lender before being acquired by Bank of America on July 1 for $2.5 billion.
Shareholders of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N are scheduled to vote Friday morning on the proposed merger between those two companies. The merger is expected to close this month. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Bernard Orr)
