New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) has ordered a major mortgage servicer to hire a monitor to make sure it is following the state’s Mortgage Servicing Practices requirements.
Atlanta–based Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN), which services over 764,000 residential mortgages nationally and more than 40,000 residential accounts in New York, must find an independent monitor that DFS deems acceptable within 20 days. The department said that Ocwen sometimes failed to show that it had sent required 90-day notices before starting foreclosures.
The lender’s other infractions include failing to provide a single point of contact for borrowers, moving toward foreclosures against borrowers who were seeking loan modifications, and not conducting independent reviews of loan-modification denials, DFS alleged. And the department said Ocwen failed to make sure borrower and loan information was accurate.
“Following complaints about Ocwen’s servicing practices, we conducted a targeted exam of Ocwen’s performance and discovered gaps in the company’s compliance,” DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in a news release. “The department is requiring the company to hire a monitor so that we can be sure that the reforms are implemented and homeowners have a real chance to avoid foreclosure.”
The company’s monitor will have to issue a report on corrective actions in 90 days. DFS is mandating the monitor be in place for two years.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com
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