Household International Inc. customers will hear from the state in the middle of August.
By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published July 25, 2003
Homeowners entitled to a share of the state's $22.7-million settlement with Household International Inc. finally should hear something next month.
The Florida Attorney General's Office said letters are scheduled to go out around the middle of August to about 41,000 people who borrowed from Household between Jan. 1, 1999, and Sept. 30, 2002. The settlement covers only loans secured by real estate, such as a mortgage, and only those that originated with Household's HFC and Beneficial units.
The payments are part of a national $484-million settlement Household negotiated to end investigations that it had overcharged and abused its customers. Household agreed to change business practices, including the reduction of prepayment penalties, caps on loan origination fees and elimination of the sale of costly single-premium credit life insurance that repays a mortgage if the homeowner dies.
The settlement was announced last October, but it has taken months for the state to develop a plan for distributing the money and to contract with Poorman-Douglas Corp. to process the claims.
Household customers who get one of the letters will have 60 days to respond if they want to share in the settlement. Those who had more than one loan will receive multiple letters and should return a claim form for each of them. The letters will notify homeowners of the minimum amount they will receive. The actual amount will be larger if some people fail to submit claims, since that would mean the money would be divided among fewer people.
After the letters are mailed, a Web site and a telephone line will be set up to handle calls from Household customers.
