“The banks crowed that this settlement would help the economy and the reputation of the mortgage industry. Michael J. Heid, president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, characterized the deal as “a very important step toward restoring confidence in mortgage servicing and stability in the housing market.””

“But it’s hard to imagine that this one settlement will be enough to restore trust in loan servicers. Given what we know about their questionable practices — how they larded improper fees on struggling homeowners, for example, and forced people to buy home insurance at three times market rates — restoring confidence in these firms will take some doing.”

“There’s no doubt that the banks are happy with this deal. You would be, too, if your bill for lying to courts and end-running the law came to less than $2,000 per loan file.”

Read the full column here.