Mary J Blige
Mary J. Blige's foundation has had almost $200,000 slashed from its bank loan.
TD Bank has reached a new settlement with the 'No More Drama' singer's charity, The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now Inc., which defaulted on a $250,000 loan last year, and has agreed to reduce the amount owed plus interest from $322,000 to $125,000.
The new agreement will see the foundation pay back $15,000 immediately, followed by 12 instalments of $9,166, according to gossip website TMZ.com.
The charity group, which aims to inspire women from all walks of life and provide them with the confidence and skills they need to achieve success, previously blamed the bank for the default, claiming TD Bank should have known the group was struggling financially before it signed off on the loan.
Mary, 42, who was handed a $3.4 million tax bill in May after being accused of avoiding her US federal taxes for three consecutive years from 2009 and was sued earlier this year for allegedly defaulting on a $500,000 personal bank loan, previously vowed to get her foundation's finances back on track.
She said: "The lives of young women are at stake. I feel what they feel. I don't want them to suffer. I promised them something and I'm gonna deliver. Period.
"The problem is that I didn't have the right people in the right places doing the right things. This should have never been allowed to happen, but it did and now we are fixing it."