Passes halfway point in consumer relief obligation
Goldman Sachs forgave more than $73.5 million in mortgage debt in the last few months, as the financial giant works to meet a $1.8 billion consumer relief obligation that’s part of the 
company’s $5 billion settlement reached in April 2016 over toxic mortgage bonds.
The latest update comes courtesy of Eric Green, who serves as independent monitor of the settlement.
A new report from Green’s office shows that since Nov. 15, 2017, Goldman Sachs forgave a total of $73,508,818 in principal on 806 first-lien mortgages, for an average principal forgiveness of $91,202 per borrower.
According to Green’s report, the relief in the most recent period was spread across 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with 35% of the credit coming from the settling states of New York, Illinois, and California.
Additionally, approximately 12% of the credit located in Hardest Hit Areas, or census tracts identified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as containing large concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosure activities.
The consumer relief requirements are part of the Goldman Sachs’ settlement with the Department of Justice; the New York, California and Illinois Attorneys General; the National Credit Union Administration, acting as conservator for several failed credit unions; and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Seattle.
In addition to being required to pay a $2.385 billion civil monetary penalty to the federal government, Goldman Sachs is also required to provide $875 million in cash payments to resolve claims by other federal entities and state claims and provide $1.8 billion in consumer relief.
According to Green’s report, Goldman Sachs is now past the halfway point in its consumer relief obligation thanks to this most recent mortgage forgiveness.
After applying credit calculations and multipliers allowed by the settlement agreements, Goldman Sachs claimed credit of $97,241,433 toward its $1.8 billion in consumer relief obligation.
That brings the total amount of credit claimed and conditionally validated to date to $918,142,212, or just over 50% of the total consumer relief obligation.
Goldman Sachs is required to provide the full consumer relief portion of the settlement by the end of January 2021.