• ‘Vulnerable’ homeowners request committee to protect interests
  •  Ditech seeks plan that would release firm from legal liability

Bloomberg-

Homeowners in Chicago cheated by a mortgage fraud scheme are seeking to form a committee to protect their interests in the bankruptcy of Ditech Holding Corp., the company that owns their loans.

 The Investor Protection Center at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law filed a request for the creation of a committee of consumer creditors to represent borrowers who were victims of the scheme. The fraud targeted elderly African-American homeowners and coerced them into reverse mortgages with no benefits that left some in foreclosure, the filing states.

Ditech, the mortgage lender and servicer led by Tom Marano, filed for bankruptcy in February and has proposed a plan to restructure its debt that would release it from liabilities such as lawsuits filed by consumer borrowers. J. Samuel Tenenbaum, a professor of law at Northwestern, said the homeowners he helps represent will be harmed by such a release of liabilities.

[BLOOMBERG]