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Tag Archives: OTS

End of Foreclosure Review Leads to 839 Layoffs at JPMorgan

The $8.5 billion foreclosure settlement on January 7 led to the conclusion of the Independent Foreclosure Review, and it also led to the layoff of more than 800 contract workers at JPMorgan Chase, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The Journal first reported 839 workers were laid off, including 529 in Brooklyn and 310 in Florence, South Carolina. Companies involved in the settlement were first required to hire third party consultants to review foreclosure actions that occurred in 2009 and 2010 as part of consent orders from regulators in 2011.

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GAO Points Out Flaws in Regulator, Servicer Outreach Materials

Regulators and servicers are missing opportunities to enhance communication with consumers, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report. The report, released June 29, examined the efforts of servicers to communicate with customers who may be eligible for an independent foreclosure review. One major problem identified with current communication materials is that they are too difficult for the general public to understand.

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Wolters Kluwer Names Former Fed Regulator VP of Professional Services

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services continues to expand its regulatory and risk management consulting services. The company recently brought on Timothy R. Burniston to serve as VP and senior director of professional services for its risk and compliance business. Burniston, previously a senior associate director with the Federal Reserve Board's division of consumer and community affairs, joins the company's growing roster of more than 400 in-house regulatory and risk management experts.

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Study Points to Improvement in Post-Modification Default Trends

Putting struggling borrowers into mortgages with more manageable monthly payments via a loan modification is a key element of the industry's effort to cut the nation's foreclosure crisis short. A recent study by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) took a look at loan performance post-modification. The regulators found that more recent modifications have performed better than earlier modifications, reflecting an increasing emphasis on lower monthly payments and sustainability.

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Regulators Report Performance of Serviced Mortgages Is Improving

The performance of first-lien mortgages serviced by large national banks and thrifts improved in the first quarter as troubled loans worked through the system, according to a report released Wednesday by federal regulators. Their analysis of servicing portfolios as a whole found that loans serviced for government agencies and the GSEs are outperforming those held by banks and thrifts on their own books. Nevertheless, delinquencies improved across all risk categories and for all asset owners, while newly started foreclosures declined sharply.

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Senators Want Fed-State Coordination in Foreclosure Resolution

A dozen U.S. senators are pooling their influence to persuade federal regulators to work with state attorneys general and other federal agencies to ""fix the broken foreclosure process,"" as the lawmakers put it. In a letter to the OCC, the senators stressed that the regulators' consent orders do not preclude states' efforts to hold servicers accountable for any wrongful foreclosures. In a separate move, lawmakers have tagged a servicing regulation bill on as an amendment to the larger economic development legislation making its way through Congress.

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Regulators Extend Deadline for Servicers’ Foreclosure Review Plans

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision have extended the deadline for 12 of 14 mortgage servicers to submit their plans for conducting foreclosure reviews. Under April's consent agreements, servicers are required to retain independent consultants to review all residential foreclosures processed in 2009 and 2010. Initially, servicers had until May 31st to submit their plans for these reviews, but at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, the deadline has been extended by 30 days.

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Reviews of Past Foreclosure Cases Called into Question by Lawmaker

Rep. Elijah Cummings has requested to see copies of the engagement letters between 14 mortgage servicers and the private consultants they've hired for foreclosure reviews. As part of the consent agreements with federal regulators to settle robo-signing allegations, the servicers are required to retain independent, third parties to review all 2009 and 2010 foreclosures. Consumer advocates have criticized the decision to allow the servicers to do the hiring, and Cummings says he wants to ensure regulators are holding them accountable.

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States Threaten High-Dollar Lawsuits in Settlement Power Play

Negotiation talks continued this week between state attorneys general and the nation's largest mortgage servicers to settle robo-signing allegations, and those on the states' side of the table began throwing out big numbers to convince servicers they should ante up. Attorneys general advised representatives from the five largest servicing shops that they would be on the hook for at least $17 billion from civil lawsuits alone if the two parties don't reach a settlement agreement.

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Attorneys General in Settlement Talks with Mortgage Servicers

State attorneys general are holding meetings with the nation's largest mortgage servicers this week to negotiate a settlement agreement for the robo-signing issues that surfaced last fall. The most controversial piece of the AGs initial proposal - mandated principal write-downs - has reportedly been dropped from the discussions. The primary issue now is the amount of fines to be levied, which the states want to use to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

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