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Tag Archives: OCC

Industry, Lawmakers Faceoff with Regulators on QRM’s Default Impact

The debate over what constitutes a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) is heating up, with a pivotal argument centered around whether or not the proposed QRM stipulations will actually lower the risk of default. In one corner you have the handful of regulators charged with putting the definition of QRM into the rule book, and in the other corner you have just about everybody else, with consumer advocates joining mortgage bankers in a rare showing, and congressional lawmakers standing firmly alongside them.

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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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South Carolina Lender Shut Down by Federal Regulators

Atlantic Bank and Trust in Charleston, South Carolina, was closed Friday by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), bringing the count of FDIC-insured bank failures to 45 for the year. The FDIC brokered a deal with First Citizens Bank and Trust Company to assume the failed lender's deposits and purchase all of its assets.

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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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Government Accountability Office Pushes for Servicing Accountability

In the wake of the industry's robo-signing issues, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report urging the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make mortgage servicing standards a priority. After examining applicable laws and interviewing mortgage investors and other industry participants, the agency concluded that federal laws do not specifically address the foreclosure process, and as a result, oversight of servicers has been ""limited and fragmented.""

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LPS Unveils Solution for Single Point-of-Contact Compliance

In an effort to help mortgage servicers respond to the consent orders issued by regulators last month, Lender Processing Services (LPS) has announced enhancements to its mortgage loan servicing platform (MSP). The consent orders require servicers to provide borrowers with a dedicated single point-of-contact for specific loss mitigation and servicing functions. Via LPS's MSP, clients can assign, view, and obtain detailed information on the single point-of-contact assigned to each specific loan throughout the life of the loan.

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Wingspan Bolsters Audit Services to Help Clients Satisfy Consent Orders

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a specialty and component mortgage servicer, added 100 employees in the past 60 days to help servicers stay compliant with the interagency review issued this month by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Two key enforcement actions were included in the consent orders for each servicer examined -- the hiring of an an independent consultant to review residential foreclosure actions from 2009 and 2010, and an expert assessment of risks in servicing operations.

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