A Drop in the Bucket

Bank of America will pay $108 million to settle federal charges that Countrywide Financial Corporation, which it acquired nearly two years ago, collected outsized fees from about 200,000 borrowers facing foreclosure.

Do the math and you'll find out that Bank of America, the successor-in-interest to Countrywide, is being fined about $540 per violation. Countrywide was collecting thousands of dollars in illegal fees from its customers who were facing foreclosure.

This would be like the Feds telling a Mafia loan shark that he only has to pay back a small percentage of the vig and that he can keep the rest.