AG Pam Bondi Announces $60 Million of Settlement Funds Available for More Assistance to Floridians

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that $60 million of the national mortgage settlement with the nations five largest mortgage servicers will now be available to provide additional assistance to Floridians. Bondis proposal, which was approved by the Legislative Budget Commission today, includes the following, according to a press release from her office:

$35 million for down payment assistance;

$10 million for housing counseling;

$5 million provided to the state courts to help with foreclosure-related issues;

$5 million provided to the attorney generals office to help fund legal aid programs;

and $5 million provided to the attorney generals office to reimburse the office and to continue its efforts to remedy abuses of the foreclosure process.

Floridians will now benefit from millions in down payment assistance, housing counseling, legal aid and better funded courts for foreclosure-related issues," Bondi said in the release. "I am proud that by working with the Legislature, we have ensured that the settlement funds go to the people who need it most -- Floridas homeowners."

The funds were made available from the landmark $25 billion joint federal-state agreement that Bondi entered with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers overtheir alleged practice of robo-signing documents pertaining to foreclosures. "Robo-signing" refers to the routine mass-signing of documents without properly reviewing them to verify the authenticity of the information contained therein.