WASHINGTON — Citigroup Inc. is reviewing about 14,000 foreclosure cases for potential errors, making it the latest bank to acknowledge flaws in how it handled documents used to evict homeowners.
The company said in testimony prepared for delivery for a House hearing Thursday that it is reviewing about 10,000 foreclosure documents to ensure they are correct.
The company is reviewing another 4,000 are because they may not have been signed with a notary public present, as required by state law, Harold Lewis, managing director of the bank's CitiMortgage unit, said in the prepared remarks, which were released Wednesday.
The company "is making every effort to ensure that no foreclosure goes forward based on an inaccurate or defective affidavit" Lewis said. The company has not suspended foreclosures, he said, and "believes there is no reason to do so."
Lewis also said Citi started working on improving its foreclosure processes a year ago, before the problems gained widespread public scrutiny.
Several major lenders, including Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Ally Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have been reviewing thousands of foreclosure cases amid revelations they filed large numbers of foreclosure documents without reviewing their contents.
New York-based Citi's chief financial officer, John Gerspach, the company's chief financial officer said in a conference call with investors last month that "we continuously review our document handling procedures, and we believe the integrity of Citi's foreclosure process is sound."
