In a big win for California homeowners, the state Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that direct the state to return $331 million it diverted from Californian’s with mortgages hurt by negative lending practices during the economic downturn.In 2012, California received $410 million from a lawsuit involving the nation’s five largest mortgage services – Ally – formerly GMAC, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, all of which had been charged with multiple federal lending violations. The settlement was intended to provide funding for legal aid, foreclosure hotlines, consumer education and efforts combating financial fraud. However, the state of California decided to divert $331 million to pay off unrelated debts, including housing bonds, which in some ca
