By Catherine Curan for the New York Post
Pull back the curtain, PNC Bank.
That’s the order from Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in New York. Outraged by the bank’s admission that it recently tried to foreclose on a loan it does not own, he’s hauling PNC back into court next month to explain itself. The judge demanded a full report on the internal procedures that led PNC to incorrectly, if not fraudulently, move to foreclose on a Bronx small businessman’s Florida property.
Peck also demanded to know what steps PNC is taking to prevent a repeat of these shenanigans.
As the judge pointed out, this particular homeowner had both an attorney, Linda Tirelli, and the US Trustee’s office prodding PNC to prove its right to foreclose. Many other troubled homeowners — in New York and across the country — are on their own.
PNC finds itself in hot water with Peck even as state attorneys general are pressing the bank and a handful of other smaller lenders to reach a settlement deal over their mortgage misdeeds. Regulators are trying to hammer out a settlement with PNC, US Bancorp, SunTrust Banks and HSBC along the lines of the $25 billion settlement with larger banks reached earlier this year.
These smaller banks have about 6 percent of the mortgage-servicing market in the US, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
One source told The Post he expected at most $400 million from any deal, compared with the $5 billion from the national settlement.
Neither PNC Bank nor the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the states’ talks, returned calls for comment.