Countrywide settles Pennsylvania lending suit -NYT

July 16 (Reuters) - Countrywide Home Loans has agreed to pay $325,000 to the Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee in Pittsburgh, settling a matter that accused the lender of abusive practices in almost 300 mortgage loans overseen by the court, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The settlement, which has been filed with the court and must be approved by the federal judge overseeing it, followed motions filed last October by Ronda Winnecour, the Chapter 13 trustee for the district of Western Pennsylvania, the paper said.

Winnecour had asked the bankruptcy court to impose sanctions against Countrywide, after pointing out that the largest U.S. mortgage lender had lost or destroyed more than $500,000 in checks paid by homeowners in foreclosure from December 2005 to April 2007, the newspaper said on its website.

The bankruptcy trustee also said she was concerned that Countrywide had been charging borrowers late fees and legal costs even though it was responsible for misplacing or destroying their checks, the Times said.

Countrywide, which was acquired by Bank of America (BAC.N) this month, disputed Winnecour's allegations about the lost checks, adding it had no record of having received the payments that the trustee said had been sent. But on June 18, Countrywide settled the case with her office, the paper said.

Questionable practices by loan servicers have been under investigation by the Office of the United States Trustee, a division of the Justice Department that monitors the bankruptcy system, since October. (Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in Bangalore, editing by Will Waterman)