Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:14pm EST

* SunTrust to refile documents in 4,000 cases

* SunTrust expects costs to increase ‘modestly’

* Bank may revise processes, leading to higher costs

* Shares up 3.1 percent (Adds byline, details on foreclosure case refilings; rewrites paragraphs 1-4; updates share price)

By Joe Rauch

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb 25 (Reuters) – SunTrust Banks Inc (STI.N) is refiling documents in 4,000 foreclosure cases after an internal review found problems with the bank’s home repossessions.

The Atlanta-based bank said in its 2010 annual report filed with U.S. securities regulators on Friday that some foreclosure affidavits were signed by employees who did not directly review documents to ensure accuracy and instead relied on the work of others.

SunTrust said it is refiling the documents and expects to have the process substantially completed by the end of first quarter 2011.

The process, dubbed “robo-signing” by critics, forced some of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders to halt foreclosures last Fall amid a firestorm of public criticism.

Continue reading…REUTERS