Tag Archives: OneWest

Financial Freedom, a division of OneWest Bank agreed to a settlement of over $89 million on Tuesday, resolving allegations from the Department of Justice that the accusing the company of violating the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 in connection with its participation in a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages or ‘reverse mortgage’ program.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced the termination of the 2011 foreclosure-related consent order for OneWest Bank, having determined that the bank has satisfied the terms of the consent order.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have announced a public meeting for Thursday, February 26, to discuss a proposed merger and acquisitions transaction between two financial holding companies that have experienced their share of financial troubles.

The fizzle of 2012's refinance boom and the publishing of new regulatory guidelines took their toll on origination numbers, but it was a decidedly different story for mortgage servicing rights (MSR) deals. DSNews.com takes a look back at some of the biggest wheelers and dealers in the MSR world over the past year, including Nationstar, Ocwen, Walter Investment Management Corp., and Two Harbors, among others.

The servicer assessment component of the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program has been enhanced with new compliance metrics and benchmarks to measure the impact of servicer performance on the borrower's experience. Individual servicer assessments are conducted quarterly to identify areas of non-compliance and drive improvements in servicers' execution of the federal program.

In Rhode Island, a superior court dismissed an attempt to invalidate a foreclosure conducted by OneWest Bank, MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. announced in a release.

Ocwen Loan Servicing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation, has entered into an agreement to purchase $78 billion in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) from OneWest Bank. According to a filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the aggregate purchase price for the MSRs will be approximately $2.53 billion, with $446 million paid in respect of the MSRs and approximately $2.1 billion to be paid in respect of the servicing advances.

Treasury says servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are getting better at evaluating homeowners for eligibility. Its latest performance assessment found no company in need of ""substantial improvement."" OneWest Bank and Select Portfolio Servicing performed at the highest level, needing only minor improvement. As part of the $25 billion settlement announced last month, Treasury has agreed to release incentives previously withheld from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.

Treasury is heading to the coastal cities of Miami and Tampa, Florida, this week in order to offer assistance to homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments. Treasury will host a ""Help for Homeowners"" outreach event in each of the hard-hit Florida cities where homeowners can meet one-on-one with their servicers. Before the homeowners arrive, though, Treasury has blocked off time for real estate professionals to meet with the servicers on behalf of their clients and to participate in short sale workshops led by the servicers themselves.

The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it will continue to withhold incentives from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America for modifications, short sales, and deeds-in-lieu completed through government programs. JPMorgan is the only servicer participating in Treasury's Making Home Affordable program that was determined to need ""substantial improvement"" in complying with program guidelines during the third quarter. Bank of America moved up a notch on the assessment scorecard to needing only ""moderate improvement.""