Ocwen Financial Corp. paid $1.196 billion for HomEq Servicing, 7.4 percent less than the $1.3 billion the Florida-based company had initially estimated.

The deal with HomEq’s parent Barclays Bank was originally announced in May and closed two weeks ago.

Ocwen says 134,000 home loans were transferred from HomEq and immediately boarded onto Ocwen’s system on September 1.

Ocwen said in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the primary reason for the reduction in the purchase price for the HomEq acquisition is that the unpaid principal balance of the boarded loans was $22.4 billion, which is $5.6 billion less than previously anticipated.

The subprime servicer says this reduction is “due to normal runoff in the securitization portfolio and a reduction in the whole loans transferred from HomEq Servicing.”

“For the reduced HomEq investment, the expected rate of return has improved somewhat,” according to Ocwen.

As DSNews.com previously reported, Ocwen plans to close HomEq’s two facilities in Raleigh, North Carolina, and North Highlands, California, and terminate 1,158 staff.