Ocwen Financial Corp. has fallen short in several areas related to standards set out in the national servicer settlement, though the company says it has since rectified the shortfalls.
A report on the Atlanta-based firm’s
compliance with the national mortgage settlement was filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The report — the first to encompass Ocwen’s entire servicing portfolio — covered activity during the second half of last year
related to the servicing standards set out in the settlement.
The findings were outlined in An Update on Ocwen’s Compliance from the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight.
According to the monitor,
Ocwen failed four metrics during the period.
“In addition, several metrics with time line requirements were deemed failures in that time as part of Ocwen’s global corrective action plan to address its incorrect dating of borrower correspondence,” the report stated. “In all, ten metrics were subject to individual corrective action plans, the global corrective action plan or both as of the fourth quarter 2014.”
In addition to letter-dating issues, failed metrics included an evaluation of
the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of pre-foreclosure initiation notification letters sent to borrowers; compliance with servicing standards regarding the propriety of default related fees collected from borrowers; compliance with the requirement to notify borrowers of any missing documents within 30 days of a borrower’s request for a short sale; and whether a denial notification was sent to a borrower that included the reason for the denial, the factual information considered by the servicer in making its decision and a time frame by which the borrower can provide evidence that an eligibility determination was made in error.
“Ocwen still has more work to do,” Settlement Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement Joseph A. Smith Jr. concluded in the report.
Smith noted that
he anticipates that Ocwen will complete its corrective actions tied to the letter-dating scandal by early next year.
For its part, Ocwen — which
said it is committed to being fully compliant with all rules and regulations related to its business — suggested it is making progress.
“The monitor’s report confirms continued confidence by the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight in the changes we have made to our internal review group function, the qualifications and process around our metrics testing, and discusses our state of compliance with the national mortgage settlement,” Ocwen said in a statement. “The specific metrics mentioned in this report are from the third and fourth quarters of 2014, and not a reflection of our current operations.”
