Mortgage monitor launches complaint-taking tool

Joseph Smith, the former N.C. banking commissioner who is now serving as monitor of the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement, announced Thursday that his office has created an online tool to take complaints from consumer advocates.

While Smith will not have the ability to work on an individual's case, his office will use the information to find trends in how the banks under the settlement are operating, the monitor's office said in a statement.

“Lawyers, caseworkers and other consumer advocates are the eyes and ears on the ground who will know first, and know intimately, what kind of difference these payments, adjustments and programs are making," Smith said in a statement. "That’s why we’ve created this dedicated tool – to see what they’re seeing."

The settlement is between states, federal agencies and the five largest mortgage servicers in the U.S.: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial.