Ally Financial finished with national mortgage settlement relief

Ally Financial has finished providing the $200 million in principal forgiveness, short sales and other mortgage relief required as part of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement that went into effect just less than a year ago, the office of settlement monitor Joseph Smith said today.

It is the first of the five banks to meet its obligations, though it also had a much smaller amount to provide. Bank of America, for example, is required to provide $8.58 billion in relief. Wells Fargo has to do $4.34 billion.

Smith determined that Ally had provided $257.4 million, though the office did not provide a breakdown of how the final numbers broke down. Smith said in a statement that he would still keep up with Ally to make sure it is following the new servicing standards required by the settlement.

All five banks were required to send Smith their reports on how much aid they've provided in the fourth quarter by today. A new report will  be issued next week.

The last one, which came out in November, showed that the banks had provided $26 billion in relief nationwide, though not all forms receive dollar-for-dollar credit toward their obligations. The bulk of the relief came through short sales.