CONCORD, N.C. -- Hundreds of Charlotte-area homeowners will receive payments as part of a $50 million settlement announced Wednesday by federal prosecutors.

Beazer Homes agreed to the settlement after the company admitted to defrauding customers of its mortgage unit, in some cases tricking homebuyers into paying higher interest rates.

Homebuyers who obtained a loan through Beazer Mortgage and closed on their property between May 3, 2003 and December 28, 2007 are eligible for the settlement checks, which will be issued through the N.C. Commissioner of Banks.

The average check amount is more than $1,500.

Beazer, which closed its mortgage unit last year and no longer operates in North Carolina, has established a hotline for settlement questions. The phone number is (866) 397-0923.

Some victims of Beazer’s mortgage fraud have already foreclosed on their homes, said Lisa Williams, a resident of the Southern Chase neighborhood, a development of 400 modest homes built by Beazer in the late 1990’s through 2006.

“I know people that just left their homes,” Williams told NewsChannel 36. “They couldn’t afford it.”

Foreclosed homes led to lower property values for families who stayed in Southern Chase.

“Everyone in this development has been affected by what Beazer did,” said John Allen, who was among the last to purchase a new home in the subdivision in 2006.

“I think everyone in here should get something out of that settlement,” he said. “Not just the ones that went through Beazer mortgage.”