US Bank settles federal mortgage probe for $200M

CLEVELAND (AP) — Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank National Association has agreed to pay $200 million to settle allegations that the bank failed to check on the credit-worthiness of thousands of applicants when it issued government-insured mortgage loans between 2006 and 2011.

The U.S. attorney’s office for northern Ohio announced the settlement today.

A statement of facts included with the settlement agreement said the bank not only failed to properly underwrite thousands of federally insured loans, it also failed to properly audit its portfolio of insured loans to gauge the bank’s performance. The statement said the bank instead mixed those loans with non-insured loans in its report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A company spokeswoman said in a state the bank cooperated with authorities and did not admit to wrongdoing.