WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Thousands of homeowners Who Took out mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. Willie Soon Receive Their slice of a $ 108 million settlement over claims the lender That outsized fees charged to Borrowers Facing Foreclosure.

The Federal Trade Commission Wednesday Said That It Will mail refund checks to 450.177 Borrowers starting Thursday.

The Action Is Part of a Settlement Agreement Reached the agency last year with Bank of America Corp., Which Acquired Countrywide in 2008.

The FTC hit Claimed Countrywide Borrowers Who Were Behind on Their mortgages with fees of SEVERAL thousand dollars at times. Were the fees for services Such as property inspections and landscaping That Far Exceeded market rates.Countrywide created Subsidiaries to hire vendors, Which marked up the price for Such services, the agency said.

In addition, the FTC Countrywide Accused of making false claims to Some Borrowers about How Much Owed on Their THEY mortgage or the status of Their loan, the lender and Claimed added fees and charges to Other Borrowers&&9; mortgage accounts Without notice.

The allegations led to the Settlement That Took place Before Bank of America Acquired Countrywide.

At the time of the settlement, the FTC Estimated HAD Countrywide overcharged homeowners around 200.000, Purpose WAS Later That figure revised to More than 450.000 After the agency&&9;s files Reviewed the lender.

"What we discovered After digging Through the record Is There Were More People Who Have Been subject to thesis overcharge Than We Had Anticipated, But The Amounts THEY HAD Been overcharged Were sufficiently small That everyone Could Be Compensated Without exhausting the $ 108,000," Said Tom Pahl , assistant director at the FTC&&9;s division of financial practices paydayloans.

About 347.000 Borrowers Who overpaid loan default fees fully reimbursed Will Be, Pahl said.

A group of Another 102.000 Borrowers Who filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection Will split what&&9;s left of the settlement Equally. A subset of Group Who Were That slapped with hidden fees That WAS the FTC Able to confirm aussi Will See Those fees fully Refunded, Pahl said.

The Refunds Will Be Distributed to Consumers Whose loans serviced by Countrywide Were Between January1, 2005, and July 1, 2008, and Who Were subject to the company&&9;s Allegedly unlawful practices, the FTC said.

The Amount of Each Will Vary refund check from less than $ 500 to SEVERAL thousand dollars. Borrowers Who Should Receive a refund check em cash by Sept. 19, the agency said.

The FTC charged with enforcing federal IS Laws Designed to unlawful pre-collect by Companies That Consumers&&9; Debts. Because that&&9;s mortgage-collection Activities are Typically Handled outside the oversight of federal banking Regulators.

FTC Paying Nearly $ 108M to Countrywide Borrowers