Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that Thursday's release of a monitor's report shows that more than 7,000 Ohioans have received more than $280 million in consumer relief from the National Mortgage Settlement announced one year ago.

"The two goals of the National Mortgage Settlement were to compensate Ohioans for the damage caused by robo-signing and to prevent future bad acts," said Attorney General DeWine. "Today's monitor's report shows that Ohioans are receiving significant relief and continue to take advantage of the relief opportunities provided in the settlement."

The monitor's report summarizes self-reported data provided by the five mortgage servicers who are parties to the settlement: Ally, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorganChase, and Wells Fargo. Between March 1 and December 31, 2012, 7,465 Ohioans received $280,082,073 in consumer relief from the 5 servicers, an average of $37,519 per participating Ohioan. Nationwide, the five servicers reported providing $45.83 billion in consumer relief. The report lists consumer relief as including: 

• Loan modifications,
• Forgiveness of forbearance,
• Lien modification forgiveness,
• Forgiveness to complete short sales,
• Forgiveness to complete deeds in lieu of foreclosure,
• Servicer payments,
• Deficiency waivers, and
• Estimated consumer relief from completed refinances.

According to the monitor's report, 2,528 Ohioans were able to complete mortgage refinances with the five servicers. The average rate reduction was 3.04%, which is significantly higher than the national average of a 2.36% reduction, and represented an overall increase since the last monitor's report was released. In total, the five servicers sent refinancing solicitations to 4,752 Ohioans.

DeWine noted that the refinancing statistics show that there are many Ohioans who have yet to finalize refinancing offers.

Ohioans who have questions about refinancing solicitations may contact the Ohio Attorney General's Office by calling 800-282-0515. 

A copy of the monitor's report is available on the Ohio Attorney General's website.