Tag Archives: Non-Bank Servicers

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released a report Tuesday highlighting the risks associated with banks that have traditionally serviced mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac selling the rights to service troubled mortgages to non-bank servicers that specialize in handling them.

Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky of New York's Department of Financial Services said the agency plans to dig into fee-based ancillary services at non-banks such as Ocwen andNationstar. While Lawsky said there's "nothing inherently wrong" with companies and affiliates providing ancillary services—ranging from debt collection to loan sales—he asserted that a lack of regulatory oversight up to this point has resulted in "potentially conflicted arrangements" between servicers and their affiliates.

In a press release issued by Fitch Ratings, the company comments that the past year has seen a "sea change" in who is servicing severely delinquent U.S. mortgage loans—and how they are being serviced. Fitch found that 2013 saw many portfolios of non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) mortgage servicing rights (MSR) move from banks to non-bank servicers.