Tag Archives: Loan Audits

An audit of San Francisco foreclosures conducted by county officials revealed documentation errors were evident in nearly all of the cases examined. Auditors reviewed 382 case files that resulted in a foreclosure sale between January 2009 and October 2011. They identified one or more irregularities in 99 percent of the loans and one or more violations of state law in 84 percent. San Francisco's Office of the Assessor‐Recorder says it hopes to open a dialogue on the importance of compliance with state laws so that corrective action can be taken.

Consumers who want their foreclosure cases checked by a third party as part of federal regulators' independent foreclosure review directive now have until July 31, 2012, to submit their requests. The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Wednesday that the deadline has been pushed out by three months to give consumers more time to file for a case assessment if they believe they suffered financial injury as a result of errors in foreclosure actions in 2009 or 2010.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger has issued a public warning to consumers in the state to be on the lookout for scammers portending to offer independent foreclosure reviews as part of the mandate to major mortgage servicers issued by the OCC and Federal Reserve. Servicers have begun offering case reviews to consumers who faced foreclosure between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. Kroger says scam artists are also contacting Oregon consumers, offering to conduct an ""independent foreclosure home loan review"" or a ""securitization review"" for a fee.

Nationwide REO Brokers, Inc. (NREOB) unveiled a new service for lenders and servicers Wednesday, offering independent loan-level foreclosure reviews and legal opinion. Due to the ever increasing complexities surrounding the foreclosure process, particularly in NREOB's home state of Massachusetts, the company has expanded its service offerings to include a complete foreclosure document evaluation performed by attorneys and supervised paralegals.

Advertisements informing the public about the independent foreclosure reviews underway for 14 major mortgage servicers hit the presses and the radio airwaves Wednesday. Released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the announcements inform the public that those who underwent foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 might be eligible for an independent case review if there is reason to believe they suffered financially as a result of mistakes made by their servicer.

JPMorgan Chase may soon be hit with a barrage of mortgage repurchase demands from investors, largely stemming from the lender's acquisitions of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns. The Texas-based law firm of Gibbs & Bruns LLP says its investor clients have instructed the trustees of $95 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued by JPMorgan to open investigations in order to determine if the mortgage bonds are secured by ineligible loans.

At a Senate subcommittee hearing examining the progress of the foreclosure review process ordered earlier this year, lawmakers questioned officials from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve about the impartiality of the ""independent reviews."" Senators asked whether any of the consultants hired to conduct the reviews had worked with the servicers previously. The regulators admitted that some had. Members of the subcommittee say these past ties raise doubts about the true independence of the examiners.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report Tuesday on actions taken to correct deficiencies in mortgage servicing and foreclosure processing by the 12 institutions it oversees. The OCC has made public the names of the independent consultants retained for foreclosure reviews, and notes that evaluations of certain cases and mailings to more than 4 million borrowers are underway. The agency says all servicers have instituted policies to end dual-tracking and provide borrowers with a single point of contact.

Mortgage industry veteran Miriam Mendieta, Esq. has joined forces with entrepreneur Jonathan Broder to launch ForeclosureReviewServices.com. The company is based in Miami, Florida and offers assistance to servicers by providing legal professionals who review foreclosure cases to determine if the borrower may have suffered financial injury. Mendieta previously served as an attorney for a large national creditor's rights firm in Florida. Broder, also an attorney, has specialized in securities litigation.

As several large servicers begin the lengthy process of an independent foreclosure review, Rep. Maxine Waters of California is repeating her request that the process be made public. Waters addresses several concerns in her most recent request, including the difficulty of reaching some of the affected borrowers, conflicts of interests between the banks and the independent reviewers, and the qualifications of those contracted to audit foreclosure cases. Fifteen of Waters' colleagues joined her in her appeal for transparency.