My name is Alisa and I live in Mississippi. I am about to tell you a story about two hard working, honest and patriotic Americans who should have never suffered the immoral, deceptive and unconscionable behavior of their mortgage servicers. They are my Parents, both in their 70's, retired and my Mother is battling lung and liver cancer.
My Parents did not borrow more money than they could repay nor are they out to shirk their obligation to repay their mortgage. In fact, they hold a considerable amount of equity in their property and are current on their payments. They would however like to emerge from a nightmare that they did not create, don't deserve and should never happen in this Country.
The events began in 2009 with a solicitation, in the form of an offer of a loan modification from their mortgage servicer, who at the time was Litton Loan. The servicer made the modification look very attractive to my retired Parents, touting the benefits of a lower monthly payment and reduced interest rate. They would begin the qualification process, and so would the servicer's scheme to possess my Parents home.
The first leg of the scheme involved putting them on trial lowered payments. It was a significant savings as their payments dropped approximately $600 a month. Then the endless hours of faxing and/or mailing required documentation followed. It was a repetitive endeavor as the servicer continually asserted (as it was to many borrowers) as they claimed they never received the paper work or the documentation supplied was incomplete or inadequate.
Then the misapplication of payments would begin by the servicer. My Mother was quick to catch on to this ploy and began phoning in her payments because she could get an immediate confirmation number as proof the payment was made and in a timely manner. Approximately one year from the time the trial payments began my Parents received a certified letter from the servicer that stated that they had not qualified for the HAMP modification and enclosed was an invoice for more than $10,000 which they claim was the difference between their regular monthly installments and the lowered trial payments plus late fees and other fees that had been heaped on. They were given a short period of time to send the funds as the servicer already considered them in default and if it wasn't paid, the foreclosure process would commence.
This was devastating to my Parents and their sleepless nights and arguments between them began. Out of desperation they sought out a remedy to save their home. It was humiliating and totally against their character but they opted to take the advise given them and turned to Bankruptcy! However, 10 months into the bankruptcy their payments being made to the court had now escalated to over $2000 per month and although they had made all the payments required, directly to the Court, the bankruptcy was dismissed. The final disbursement of funds to the servicer totaled over $15,000 and the bank, still wanted more.
Now, the protection of the Court was no more and the fight to find a proper loan accounting continued.
Shortly after the bankruptcy had been dismissed, Litton Loan sold to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC. My Parents had hopes that this would be a new start and hoped for peace. But no peace would come as this servicer picked up where the other left off.
The first letter of default came within weeks from Ocwen and the process would now start all over. The constant documents required, payments not being posted in a timely manner, if at all, as some payments would find themselves unaccounted for, moved to a suspense account. Mother continued to document her activities and payments to such a degree that they could not deny they were being made, so their next scheme was put into play. Escrow!
Despite the fact that my Parents had for 20 years paid their insurance and property taxes themselves without a required escrow, Ocwen decided to take that benefit away and forced an escrow. For months Mother spent time trying to convince them she wanted no part of the escrow and continued to make the payments, less the escrow. By this time, the stress of years of dealing with this situation took its toll and in January 2012 she was diagnosed with lung cancer but despite treatment, January 2013 testing showed it had spread to her liver. Her second round of treatment and new fight began immediately upon her second diagnosis.
I had only recently learned of their situation and vowed to tend to this matter as Mother certainly could no longer do so and it wasn't long before I realized the complete and total hell that my Parents had endured for years now.
I spent the first few months repeating the same question. How is it possible that innocent families can have their homes ripped away from them, here in America? And so, my long research journey began to find answers.
The more information I learned about this mortgage servicer, the angrier I became, and my letter campaign began. Since my Mother had previously made contact with our State Attorney Generals Office who told her to simply pay her mortgage, it was obvious revisiting that avenue was futile, they either didn't understand or didn't want to.
I wrote to Senators, Congressmen, government agencies, journalists and Attorneys all to no avail. Not one of them acknowledged my pleas. Finally, two replies came, one from my district representative to inform me that they didn't get involved in judicial matters and the last from one of our State Senators stating the same reason. I was once again sick to my stomach. I would fail my dying Mother as no one cared that their home was being stolen from them. Out of desperation I made one last call to a former classmate and she put me in touch with an Attorney that surely could stop this as she too was asking how this could happen?
Long story short, a modification was signed by my Father. It wasn't a HAMP Modification but an in house Modification with Ocwen, which is what they intended to happen. This modification was so one sided it was ridiculous but by this time my Parents choices were slim and Mother was in no shape to be put out of her home. She was now fully involved in Chemo and radiation therapy; fighting to save her life.
Although the modification had been signed, Ocwen never acknowledged it as the default letters continued; payments continued to be returned to us and although I continued to send each and every one back to Ocwen the road to foreclosure was quickly approaching as Ocwen clearly had my Parents on a dual track to foreclosure. I pushed the Attorney for resolution and a settlement was proposed by Ocwen.
The proposed Settlement was stunning.
It was riddled with paragraph after paragraph of considerations for Ocwen but no consideration for my Parents. It effectively had my Parents signing away every right to know what their mortgage balance was, or how Ocwen arrived at the number. They had to sign away their rights to dispute any inaccuracies, miscalculations or how they applied any payments, now and forever. The proposed settlement required my parents sign away their right to ever question Ocwen on anything they would later discover and not agree with.
Each and every paragraph contained waivers for my Parents to sign away their legal rights to hold them accountable. They were effectively asking them to waive all rights pertaining to the accounting or handling of their mortgage. If signed, my parents were agreeing to pay them whatever they demanded and pay taxes on whatever amount Ocwen freely and without explanation, determined they wanted to insert into a 1099 form. They were in charge of all calculations, and expect my Parents to simply trust they will be accurate.
Ocwen did offer to attempt to correct their erroneous credit reporting, however, claimed it would be my Parents responsibility to ensure the credit bureaus complied, noting they can't control the credit bureaus
There was no accurate accounting for my Parents continued payments, nor the $15,000+ dollars in bankruptcy funds they additionally paid Ocwen through the Court, nor was there an updated payment history with balance calculations, attached to their proposed settlement. In the past my Parents received monthly statements (incorrect statements) but they have not received a statement from Ocwen on their account since October 2012 (this is now June 2013).
The correspondence we sent to Ocwen, in an effort to resolve the many accounting errors, continue to go unanswered. Remember the Modification they never acknowledged? They managed to tack another $19,000 worth of capitalization onto that modification, and without benefit of any explanation of what made up this figure. Ocwen wanted my Parents to sign this document, even though it still contained Ocwen's erroneous calculations that falsely noted that two payments were still in default, when they were not.
We provided the proof of payment; showing an Ocwen representative signed in receipt of these payments. This looked like a complete disaster waiting to happen for my Parents, and a clear path to them losing their home. Needless to say, they didn't feel safe signing an agreement that was riddled with miscalculations and falsehoods. They rejected the notion of signing it, and we once again, forwarded the receipts showing all payments have been paid, proving they are not in default, and asked them to review their troubled accounting methods, and provide us with an updated payment history schedule.
All along, my Parents have only wanted Ocwen to correct their accounting flaws and clean up their their erroneous credit reporting. Isn't that something any reasonable mortgage servicing agent would accept as their basic obligation when meeting their duty to account for any borrower's payments?
My parents would have signed any fair settlement proposal that included an accurate accounting of their payments, but what they received was a document that removed every protection a homeowner is entitled to in order to properly defend and protect their rights and home from this very type of predatory behavior. Instead they were asked to sign a one sided, open ended document that left a full range of abuses at the disposal of this servicer.
We are now in search of an Attorney that will help protect my parents and their home from any further threats of a wrongful foreclosure. Someone who understands the magnitude of these ongoing schemes and has the fortitude to hold Ocwen accountable for their mishandling of this mortgage and what appears to be their inability to correct their own accounting errors, before they too, have their home stolen out from underneath them.
The State of Mississippi is a non judicial foreclosure state with no homeowner bill of rights. In other words, the foreclosing party does not have to prove they have the right to foreclosure and the homeowner has limited avenues to protect and retain their property from these predators. The process generally takes 90 days with a sale publication for 30 days. After that the homeowner's property is sold on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder. There is no redemption period for the homeowner.
The days of closing a contract with a handshake are gone along with the character standings of these establishments. Despite the $25 billion settlement that Banks were forced to pay to settle abusive and fraudulent mortgage servicing allegations, it appears as though they continue to operate how they see fit, whether they are violating the terms of a government ordered settlement, or the rights of innocent homeowners, they seem undeterred in their quest to take homes, and the equity in them, by any means necessary, regardless if they have any right or not! Hence the need for a Homeowners Bill of Rights in any non judicial state to allow homeowners the right to save their home from any unlawfully foreclosing party, and forcing them to prove that they have a right to foreclose.
So here are my Parents, tired, worn down, sick, fighting for life with no one coming to their rescue.
These are the facts: My Parents are not behind on their payments and haven't been since the inception of this nightmare yet they face foreclosure. Why does it look like the watchers are not really watching? Oh they pretend to be watching. Some in the media will tell you that this misconduct isn't happening at all, when clearly it is, and that's apparently because the Banks only had their hand slapped. The truth of the matter is the American taxpayers have bailed out these "too big to fail" banks and this is how they repay the American Citizens. They steal their homes by way of these servicers lying, cheating and stealing practices.
I don't know how this story will end as it continues to be written. As with most of life's challenges I am not privy to the grand plan. I do hope however that every reader of my Parents story scream their injustice because the chances of it happening to someone you love is great. Great because those we vote into office seem to turn and look the other way, those that are in a position to give voice to these practices don't and the cries of the American families being displaced and losing the American dream continues to fall on deaf ears.
I no longer recognize my Country. It was once a place where deals were struck with a handshake and the character of its people were strong. These illegal and immoral practices will not change within the political world but can be changed with the voices of Americans. It is often said that one voice alone will go unheard but the voices of many affect change.
Alisa B. Mississippi
If you can offer assistance to this family, please leave them your thoughts and information below. If you would like to get in touch with Alisa, feel free to email me directly and I will put you in touch with her. If you are Ocwen: Really? Do what's right and give this family the peace of mind, dignity (& accurate loan accounting) they deserve. Just step up and do what's right!
My Parents did not borrow more money than they could repay nor are they out to shirk their obligation to repay their mortgage. In fact, they hold a considerable amount of equity in their property and are current on their payments. They would however like to emerge from a nightmare that they did not create, don't deserve and should never happen in this Country.
The events began in 2009 with a solicitation, in the form of an offer of a loan modification from their mortgage servicer, who at the time was Litton Loan. The servicer made the modification look very attractive to my retired Parents, touting the benefits of a lower monthly payment and reduced interest rate. They would begin the qualification process, and so would the servicer's scheme to possess my Parents home.
The first leg of the scheme involved putting them on trial lowered payments. It was a significant savings as their payments dropped approximately $600 a month. Then the endless hours of faxing and/or mailing required documentation followed. It was a repetitive endeavor as the servicer continually asserted (as it was to many borrowers) as they claimed they never received the paper work or the documentation supplied was incomplete or inadequate.
Then the misapplication of payments would begin by the servicer. My Mother was quick to catch on to this ploy and began phoning in her payments because she could get an immediate confirmation number as proof the payment was made and in a timely manner. Approximately one year from the time the trial payments began my Parents received a certified letter from the servicer that stated that they had not qualified for the HAMP modification and enclosed was an invoice for more than $10,000 which they claim was the difference between their regular monthly installments and the lowered trial payments plus late fees and other fees that had been heaped on. They were given a short period of time to send the funds as the servicer already considered them in default and if it wasn't paid, the foreclosure process would commence.
This was devastating to my Parents and their sleepless nights and arguments between them began. Out of desperation they sought out a remedy to save their home. It was humiliating and totally against their character but they opted to take the advise given them and turned to Bankruptcy! However, 10 months into the bankruptcy their payments being made to the court had now escalated to over $2000 per month and although they had made all the payments required, directly to the Court, the bankruptcy was dismissed. The final disbursement of funds to the servicer totaled over $15,000 and the bank, still wanted more.
Now, the protection of the Court was no more and the fight to find a proper loan accounting continued.
Shortly after the bankruptcy had been dismissed, Litton Loan sold to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC. My Parents had hopes that this would be a new start and hoped for peace. But no peace would come as this servicer picked up where the other left off.
The first letter of default came within weeks from Ocwen and the process would now start all over. The constant documents required, payments not being posted in a timely manner, if at all, as some payments would find themselves unaccounted for, moved to a suspense account. Mother continued to document her activities and payments to such a degree that they could not deny they were being made, so their next scheme was put into play. Escrow!
Despite the fact that my Parents had for 20 years paid their insurance and property taxes themselves without a required escrow, Ocwen decided to take that benefit away and forced an escrow. For months Mother spent time trying to convince them she wanted no part of the escrow and continued to make the payments, less the escrow. By this time, the stress of years of dealing with this situation took its toll and in January 2012 she was diagnosed with lung cancer but despite treatment, January 2013 testing showed it had spread to her liver. Her second round of treatment and new fight began immediately upon her second diagnosis.
I had only recently learned of their situation and vowed to tend to this matter as Mother certainly could no longer do so and it wasn't long before I realized the complete and total hell that my Parents had endured for years now.
I spent the first few months repeating the same question. How is it possible that innocent families can have their homes ripped away from them, here in America? And so, my long research journey began to find answers.
The more information I learned about this mortgage servicer, the angrier I became, and my letter campaign began. Since my Mother had previously made contact with our State Attorney Generals Office who told her to simply pay her mortgage, it was obvious revisiting that avenue was futile, they either didn't understand or didn't want to.
I wrote to Senators, Congressmen, government agencies, journalists and Attorneys all to no avail. Not one of them acknowledged my pleas. Finally, two replies came, one from my district representative to inform me that they didn't get involved in judicial matters and the last from one of our State Senators stating the same reason. I was once again sick to my stomach. I would fail my dying Mother as no one cared that their home was being stolen from them. Out of desperation I made one last call to a former classmate and she put me in touch with an Attorney that surely could stop this as she too was asking how this could happen?
Long story short, a modification was signed by my Father. It wasn't a HAMP Modification but an in house Modification with Ocwen, which is what they intended to happen. This modification was so one sided it was ridiculous but by this time my Parents choices were slim and Mother was in no shape to be put out of her home. She was now fully involved in Chemo and radiation therapy; fighting to save her life.
Although the modification had been signed, Ocwen never acknowledged it as the default letters continued; payments continued to be returned to us and although I continued to send each and every one back to Ocwen the road to foreclosure was quickly approaching as Ocwen clearly had my Parents on a dual track to foreclosure. I pushed the Attorney for resolution and a settlement was proposed by Ocwen.
The proposed Settlement was stunning.
It was riddled with paragraph after paragraph of considerations for Ocwen but no consideration for my Parents. It effectively had my Parents signing away every right to know what their mortgage balance was, or how Ocwen arrived at the number. They had to sign away their rights to dispute any inaccuracies, miscalculations or how they applied any payments, now and forever. The proposed settlement required my parents sign away their right to ever question Ocwen on anything they would later discover and not agree with.
Each and every paragraph contained waivers for my Parents to sign away their legal rights to hold them accountable. They were effectively asking them to waive all rights pertaining to the accounting or handling of their mortgage. If signed, my parents were agreeing to pay them whatever they demanded and pay taxes on whatever amount Ocwen freely and without explanation, determined they wanted to insert into a 1099 form. They were in charge of all calculations, and expect my Parents to simply trust they will be accurate.
Ocwen did offer to attempt to correct their erroneous credit reporting, however, claimed it would be my Parents responsibility to ensure the credit bureaus complied, noting they can't control the credit bureaus
There was no accurate accounting for my Parents continued payments, nor the $15,000+ dollars in bankruptcy funds they additionally paid Ocwen through the Court, nor was there an updated payment history with balance calculations, attached to their proposed settlement. In the past my Parents received monthly statements (incorrect statements) but they have not received a statement from Ocwen on their account since October 2012 (this is now June 2013).
The correspondence we sent to Ocwen, in an effort to resolve the many accounting errors, continue to go unanswered. Remember the Modification they never acknowledged? They managed to tack another $19,000 worth of capitalization onto that modification, and without benefit of any explanation of what made up this figure. Ocwen wanted my Parents to sign this document, even though it still contained Ocwen's erroneous calculations that falsely noted that two payments were still in default, when they were not.
We provided the proof of payment; showing an Ocwen representative signed in receipt of these payments. This looked like a complete disaster waiting to happen for my Parents, and a clear path to them losing their home. Needless to say, they didn't feel safe signing an agreement that was riddled with miscalculations and falsehoods. They rejected the notion of signing it, and we once again, forwarded the receipts showing all payments have been paid, proving they are not in default, and asked them to review their troubled accounting methods, and provide us with an updated payment history schedule.
All along, my Parents have only wanted Ocwen to correct their accounting flaws and clean up their their erroneous credit reporting. Isn't that something any reasonable mortgage servicing agent would accept as their basic obligation when meeting their duty to account for any borrower's payments?
My parents would have signed any fair settlement proposal that included an accurate accounting of their payments, but what they received was a document that removed every protection a homeowner is entitled to in order to properly defend and protect their rights and home from this very type of predatory behavior. Instead they were asked to sign a one sided, open ended document that left a full range of abuses at the disposal of this servicer.
We are now in search of an Attorney that will help protect my parents and their home from any further threats of a wrongful foreclosure. Someone who understands the magnitude of these ongoing schemes and has the fortitude to hold Ocwen accountable for their mishandling of this mortgage and what appears to be their inability to correct their own accounting errors, before they too, have their home stolen out from underneath them.
The State of Mississippi is a non judicial foreclosure state with no homeowner bill of rights. In other words, the foreclosing party does not have to prove they have the right to foreclosure and the homeowner has limited avenues to protect and retain their property from these predators. The process generally takes 90 days with a sale publication for 30 days. After that the homeowner's property is sold on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder. There is no redemption period for the homeowner.
The days of closing a contract with a handshake are gone along with the character standings of these establishments. Despite the $25 billion settlement that Banks were forced to pay to settle abusive and fraudulent mortgage servicing allegations, it appears as though they continue to operate how they see fit, whether they are violating the terms of a government ordered settlement, or the rights of innocent homeowners, they seem undeterred in their quest to take homes, and the equity in them, by any means necessary, regardless if they have any right or not! Hence the need for a Homeowners Bill of Rights in any non judicial state to allow homeowners the right to save their home from any unlawfully foreclosing party, and forcing them to prove that they have a right to foreclose.
So here are my Parents, tired, worn down, sick, fighting for life with no one coming to their rescue.
These are the facts: My Parents are not behind on their payments and haven't been since the inception of this nightmare yet they face foreclosure. Why does it look like the watchers are not really watching? Oh they pretend to be watching. Some in the media will tell you that this misconduct isn't happening at all, when clearly it is, and that's apparently because the Banks only had their hand slapped. The truth of the matter is the American taxpayers have bailed out these "too big to fail" banks and this is how they repay the American Citizens. They steal their homes by way of these servicers lying, cheating and stealing practices.
I don't know how this story will end as it continues to be written. As with most of life's challenges I am not privy to the grand plan. I do hope however that every reader of my Parents story scream their injustice because the chances of it happening to someone you love is great. Great because those we vote into office seem to turn and look the other way, those that are in a position to give voice to these practices don't and the cries of the American families being displaced and losing the American dream continues to fall on deaf ears.
I no longer recognize my Country. It was once a place where deals were struck with a handshake and the character of its people were strong. These illegal and immoral practices will not change within the political world but can be changed with the voices of Americans. It is often said that one voice alone will go unheard but the voices of many affect change.
Alisa B. Mississippi
If you can offer assistance to this family, please leave them your thoughts and information below. If you would like to get in touch with Alisa, feel free to email me directly and I will put you in touch with her. If you are Ocwen: Really? Do what's right and give this family the peace of mind, dignity (& accurate loan accounting) they deserve. Just step up and do what's right!
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I am a personal friend to this family and it is atrocious to me to see this happening to this family. I had a similar case but I was able to sale my home and pay off the loan and move on with my life. These are good people who have worked hard all their lives to have what little they do have. I pray there is an attorney out there that will step up, take this case on and put this in the public eye in a way that this loan company will never ever be able to harm another family in our country. In other words I hope they are able to find many more people out there going through this very thing and can get a major group suit against this company and any others doing this to families. I pray for a good ending to this for this family and that her Mama can have a quality life in her final days on this earth and not worry herself daily until her time comes. It makes me sick to my stomach that anyone could literally try to put a family out of their home when they have done all that was required of them. May God have mercy on the souls of the ones putting this family through this. If you are an attorney that works in this field I pray you will read this and have a heart to help this family "Pro Bono" would be even greater. Please if you can help them, contact Alisa and help her help her parents. Please....
This is a tragic story. I wish them the best. I too hate what this country has become. The greed is off the charts and there are no laws to protect us.
Even though we have been in this Hellish nightmare for years, I still find myself wondering were is the "outrage" from those in a position to help us and others like us..I know we are not the only ones and unfortunately there is no protection for any of us.
Take them to court pro se...you have a mountain of evidence against these frauds terms. There are multiple cases you can read to prepare yourselves. More and more people are challenging these crooks in court.
See if you can find how much they paid for msr...we found out our thieves paid .77 cents on the dollar...yet are trying to bludgeon us for the full amount.
Go to sec Edgar to start your research...Reuters reports what many of theses companies pay for msr...
Make them put in writing who owns your note...they can't.
Thank you Pat for your comment. I agree with you about the greed and there are many laws in place to help but they are not being enforced..The watchers need to pay attention and the enforcers need to enforce the law!
The Govenor's Office made contact with me. They are offering NO help!
Ocwen has been PLAYING WITH LIVES and conning their PAYING customers for YEARS. Evil triumphs when good people see it and choose to do nothing about it. You raise a very key question, where are the watchers?
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/ocwen_loan.html
http://www.complaintslist.com/2013/ocwen-complaint-80491/
http://www.Msfraud.org
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/ocwen/class-action-lawsuit-20101222212751.html
too many...too long.
I have reviewed many sites over the years with complaint after complaint about this company yet it continues to be allowed to buy up mortgages as recently as this year. Eventually it will get to the point that their reach touches the right (or in Ocwens case the wrong) homeowner and something will finally get done. However, that leaves the rest of us dangling off the side of the cliff until that day comes.
The problem still remains that most of America doesn't believe that these fradulent practices are taking place. Many believe that if someone is in foreclosure that they deserve to be there. The only way to change this thinking is by exposure. My Parents are deserving of my voice and the light must shine bright to expose these behaviors. Our light is our VOICE! Shine...
Manufactured foreclosures are extremely common. The banks sets you up for foreclosure once enough equity has built up, and all the legal action in the world won't stop them. Selling the property before they get it is the only thing you can do. They will still get some bogus fees out of the proceeds, but you'll get some equity out of it, and if they foreclose, you'll never see a dime. They'll falsify the selling price and report it as a loss.
I know. Guaranty Bank did it to me back in '99.
Alisa B,
Have your parents begin a complaint with The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- you can google them. The CFPB will require Ocwen to provide an accounting of the record of the mortgage. The accounting may not be complete, but I believe it will be required. The CFBP seems to take its job more seriously than pseudo-agencies like the OCC.
They can be found at http://www.consumerfinance.gov ---and whether or not the CFPB is able to help, it's always good to file a complaint so they have a record and knowledge of the complaints & number of victims. These crimes have been allowed to grow in the dark for too long. Unfortunately, unless and until the people who perpetrate fraud (of any kind) are held responsible for it, they will continue. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. That should go for predatory servicers too!
Thank you Phoenix..I have read many things about CFPB and it appears that they take their job very seriously. Score one for the homeowners!We need more of these on our side..
I received a link to the below article in an email with this note: "Just came across an article that explains Alisa and God only knows how many others… problem."
I couldn't agree more! Read it and see what you think.
See: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/new_bank_of_america_whistle_blower_emerges_more_customer_abuse/
New Bank of America whistle-blower emerges:
More customer abuse secrets --Bank of America whistle-blower details latest scheme to abuse homeowners, evade settlement rules and pocket cash...
Read this article and see if you believe the financial industry (or any corporate entity having a history of claims against them for fraud & deceptive practices) should be trusted to police themselves? Lobbyists claim there are too many rules, too much oversight. It's much the same as a repeat drunk driver lobbying for less police on the road --claiming there are far too many DUI checkpoints. Regardless of political affiliation, this is about fraud. It's not about right vs. left it's about right vs. wrong. Until we stop handing out get out of jail free passes, instead of sentences, criminals will continue to create the rules of the game and play by their own rules --right or wrong.
Read this and see what you think: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/new_bank_of_america_whistle_blower_emerges_more_customer_abuse/
I was going through some documents today (filed in a huge crate). I found the original note. I was shocked! My Parents have paid on this loan for 15 years. Recently, Ocwen sent us what they said was the payoff on this loan and it was $6592.00 more than the original note 15 years ago. Now if this doesn't scream to someone, I don't know what will. At one point Mom received an amortization (before it was sold to these thieves)and was making excellent progress at reducing the amount they owed on this loan then it was sold to Litton Loan and then to Ocwen. The balance is no longer going down but is going up. Why? Rampant Fraud!!
Here is how I see the game being played at the expense of the American people.
Fraud being perpetrated upon the American People of all walks of life and those perpetrating the Fraud are clear. Here are the players, some good and some bad.
Ben Bernanke went before Congress and testified that allowing the banks to fail would be catastrophic to our economy; Congress (American Taxpayers) bailed them out. The Banks and Servicing companies decided they needed more money. The subprime mortgage situation was just the excuse for them to hide their fraud. They began sending default letters to borrowers who had fallen on hard times or even those current on their payments. These Banks and Servicers have foreclosed on millions of homes across the country. Those Homeowners who knew it was time to walk away did and those who were not in default would fight, at least until they were so worn down and stressed out that they ultimately would walk away. But there are also homeowners who would put together the enough of the pieces to the puzzle to hang in there.
Meanwhile, the Settlement between the Banks and the Government is done and the money is disbursed to the states. The “State” issue is another story for another day.
Being the Chair of the Federal Reserve, Benbernanke asks for oversight reports from GAO into the foreclosure situation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) would begin an investigation into the Banks and Servicing companies’ practices. Here is the report:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11433.pdf
It was slightly skewed to helping the Banks.
Feeling that the report wasn’t complete, Elijah Cummings, co-chair of the Oversight Committee and Elizabeth Warren, Senator of Massachusetts wrote to ask why the report only sampled a small segment of the foreclosures.
http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/March%20Response%20to%20Fed%20&%20OCC.pdf
Ben Bernanke responds that revealing too much of the Mortgage Servicing and foreclosure practices would be to divulge “Trade Secrets” of the Servicer. Trade Secrets, really? It is no secret what is being done to the American people. They live it each and everyday. It consumes them with a huge dark cloud of uncertainty that invades their world, their thoughts, their dreams (if they sleep), and their happiness. I can’t remember the last time I truly laughed or felt relaxed and for my Parents, it is palatable!
Elijah Cummings and Elizabeth Warren respond to Bernanke’s trade secret explanation with;
"Criminal activity should not be shielded by regulators as if it constitutes proprietary information or trade secrets," wrote Warren and Cummings. "We continue to believe transparency is critical around the operations of the review and settlement processes, including the method by which borrower files were reviewed, the violations the servicers are found to have committed, and the scale of those violations."
http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/2013-04-10.EEC-EW%20to%20Fed%20and%20OCC.PDF
Elizabeth Warren speaks the truth of this industry raping the American people with illegal, fraudulent and deceptive practices.
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/15/fed_messed_with_the_wrong_senator/
A Litton Loan Lawyer that has a conscience or at the very least fear of getting caught doing what the Goldman Sachs people were telling him what to do says, We can’t deny these modifications. He later left his job! Here is his story..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96_k-cGRxY
I would encourage more whistle blowing from those with a conscience, those who went to work everyday sick to their stomachs, those who cried listening to the stories of those families about to lose their homes and those who left their jobs despite the possibility of being unemployed for a long time in this economy. Come to us, tell us your stories and together we will change the future for the American dream and save the displacement of millions more Americans!
This should not be a Democrat or Republican slander fest nor should it be a platform for racial propaganda as foreclosure touches all Americans.
So into 2013 those who continue to scream this injustice to the top of their lungs are seeing a bit of movement and I am still not sure what that movement will evolve to become. Will it finally be accountability? And when and what type of accountability will it be? Or will it just be another scandal with no where answers?
Update: I made a complaint with the CFPB over the weekend. It was a fairly easy process and I encourage all in our shoes to do the same. The more voices that are heard the better! We are in a bit of a holding pattern as many more letters have been put out to more officials and media..I will update when something moves. Thanks again for all your support and wisdom. We learn many things when we are thrown into the fire. I am learning how to stand up and say NO MORE!
Update: On July 3rd the CFPB notified me that my complaint was being forwarded to Ocwen for a response. Today, July 8, we received a letter from Ocwen stating they were preparing a response and it should be completed within 10 days. Wow! How is it that my correspondence to Ocwen from April 2012 has yet to be answered but CFPB gets a response in a few days.. Ocwen is on top of this? Amazing..Thank you CFPB!You have accomplished something that I can't which is getting Ocwen to respond. We will soon see what their response is to CFPB..More to come.
We got sold to evil Ocwen in March 2013. It was our 4th "sale" since I was convinced by Ameriquest in 2004 that refinancing our home was easy, and that they would ONLY refinance it for its FULL equity, NOT for the amount I wanted to remodel. Then came their deceptive trade practices, which they were sued for in a CLASS ACTION. But, AMI, then AHMSI, then Homeward, now Ocwen. Really?
When we got "taken" back in 2004, I was 49, my husband was 51 - but within a month, he had two heart attacks. Two months later, I had a massive brain bleed stroke, and have been paralyzed ever since. In 2010, my husband had 5-bypass heart surgery, and now has COPD. We've owned our home for 36 years. Yes, we only had 3 more years to pay on our original loan, before we got into this nightmare.
Ocwen calls everyday, multiple times. We are NOT behind on our mortgage. I pay on the day I receive my disability check.
I am very sick about this whole situation.
Sheri,
If you haven't yet contacted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, please do. You can reach out to them for assistance and file a complaint at http://www.consumerfinance.gov
I am always so sorry to hear you've been so significantly impacted by deceptive mortgage servicing practices. It's disheartening to think about the untold numbers of innocent homeowners, who continue to suffer, having their homes ripped away and finances, lives & worse, health shredded, without cause. It's a long broken system and it's people like you who continue to pay such a high price of this grand scheme, must continue to speak out if we can ever hope to fix it.
keep us posted.
Sheri, I am so sorry for your situation. Telling this story to folks who have not been in the fire is hard. They always say this can not possibly happen. However, it happens everyday and help for homeowners is very hard to find. As Denise said, if you haven't filed a complaint with CFPB, please do! It is very easy and not at all time consuming. Be sure to have all supporting documents ready to attach to the complaint. I hope you will keep this thread updated after you file. The CFPB responds very quickly and definitely has Ocwens attention!
Please continue to shout this from the mountain top! Our voices provide the light to expose this fraud..
I was able to give Alisa the name of a Nationally known attorney who specializes in Mortgage fraud via a wonderful attorney from here in Madison . It is my prayer that this attorney will be able to take this case and show the industry what the consequences are for this type of despicable behavior!!
Defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!
Call your Senators today. Please tell them to Confirm Richard Cordray
"The American people deserve a Congress that worries less about helping big banks...and more about helping regular people who have been cheated on mortgages, on credit cards, on student loans and on credit reports." Sen. Elizabeth Warren 3/12/2013
Here’s how to call your Senators:
1. Call 1-888-291-9824 to be connected to the Capitol switchboard.
2. Ask for the office of one of your senators (it's especially important that you contact the offices of Republican senators). Look up your Senators here.
3. When a staff member answers the phone, you can use this rough script:
“I’m a constituent, and I’m calling to ask the Senator to confirm Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. Cordray’s qualifications and leadership have been praised by bankers as well as consumer advocates, and by Senators on both sides of the aisle. In my mind, that should settle the case. I do not believe it is right to use the confirmation process to rewrite the law that established this agency. As a practical matter, anything but an unconditional vote in favor of his confirmation will damage consumers and embolden the very worst elements of the lending and banking industries.”
4. Let us know how your call went!
Leave a comment below to tell us what happened.
The Americans for Financial Reform
http://action.civilrights.org/site/PageNavigator/AFRCordray2013.html
~~~~~~
Regardless of your political party; This vote is a matter of making a choice about what's right vs. what's wrong. It's not right to use the confirmation process to rewrite the law that established this agency. Tell your legislators to stop making choices based on what's right vs. left. Insist on their vote being about what's right vs. wrong, and our right to deserve fairness & financial protection. One only need look at this story, and ones like it on this site and others all over the web to see what happens when nobody is watching out for the rights of consumers, borrowers and small business owners. These real life experiences tell the real story, --and it's not a pretty one at all.
Defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!
Call your senators today. Please tell Them to Confirm Richard Cordray!
Denise Richardson
~You can also read a brief history on the CFPB here:
http://www.givemebackmycredit.com/blog/2013/07/a-brief-history-of-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau.html
Elizabeth Warren, member of the Oversight Committee, asks questions concerning the sampling of homeowners reported on during the IFR investigation. If you are a victim of the big banks, it is refreshing to see someone stand up for us but I think all loans originating in the late 80's-late 90's should be looked at..not just a small 100,000 loans but ALL of them. This open session hearing was on April 11, 2013..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HPxj0j4l4s
I am still awaiting the results of the CFPB complaint as an investigation may take up to 60 days. I hope Ocwen responds because on July 1 they signed for a QWR (qualified written response) that my father sent to them and they have not answered it..where is the RESPA compliance? It has now been over 30 days since they received it and no response at all! Not even an acknowledgement that they have received it..I must say I am not surprised by their non response as it is their history of doing so! How are we as borrowers to communicate with this Servicer regarding our account? You can't get help via phone, email or certified mail! What are the homeowners to do?
hi Alisa ,
our atty. and the hud agency helping with our loan mod. has been trying to get the address to send a qualified written response to ocwen.
can you give me the address because I've been told if it is not sent to the correct address , ocwen can ignore the letter.
Sandy Turner..this is straight off their letterhead. I can send you a photo of the letter for your attorney to have for his file if you will send your email to Denise.. Let me know how it goes!
To send a Qualified Written Request:
Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC
Attn: Research Department
P.O.Box 24736
West Palm Beach, Florida 33416-4738
There are several legal terms that come to mind for me, and, not being a lawyer, have no idea if any of them would apply. They are "usury" and "unconscionable"- See: the online legal-dictionary for "exploitation of a vulnerable adult" Ago.state.ms.us/index
vulnerable_adult_unit.
I am really hoping you get this resolved, as it is simply inexcusable.
It has now been a year since we received a monthly statement..receiving a monthly statement used to be the normal but it stopped coming last October 2012. We have no idea what is happening to the payments we make. I guess we will have to write another letter asking questions about the status of the account. Letters that never get answered! We are totally in the dark!
Why are your Parents still paying these people?
Please read below as articulated by:
Jeff Barnes, Esq., (ForeclosureDefenseNetwork)
OCWEN LOAN SERVICING ADMITS IN WRITING: WE DO NOT KNOW WHO OWNS YOUR LOAN
October 3, 2013
Several of our clients have recently received letters from Ocwen Loan Servicing in response to inquiries as to who owns the homeowner’s loan. The response from Ocwen is a form letter, which states: “There is no single investor of the loan. The loan is one of many in a securitized investment trust (with name of the trust). Ocwen is the servicer of the loan, and not necessarily the owner of the loan. Although the ownership of the loan may change, the ownership has no bearing on the servicing of the loan.”
Look at that series of admissions very carefully. We know that Ocwen is a servicer, and is never an “owner” of a loan. A servicer is (allegedly) working to service the loan on behalf of some owner. Who is that owner? Ocwen does not know, and admits that the ownership may change.
Servicing rights are conveyed by a servicing contract. Who is Ocwen working for? It does not say. What rights have been conferred upon Ocwen by whoever owns the loan? Ocwen does not say. What amount is the owner claiming is owed and under what facts? Ocwen does not say.
Ocwen does admit that the loan was securitized. This admission implicates all of the securitization issues, including authority of the servicer, whether the loan was properly transferred to the trust, whether there were any paydowns or payoffs of the note through insurances, credit default swaps, reserve pools, etc. depending on the current state of the law in whatever jurisdiction a foreclosure is pending. As you know, some states have case law which permits inquiry into the issues; some do not; and some are undecided.
This letter alone warrants intensive discovery in any foreclosure case in view of the admissions of Ocwen, which admissions generate a wealth of issues of fact for discovery and trial as well.
Thank you, Ocwen!
Jeff Barnes, Esq., ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com
Wow! Thank you anonymous for this letter..
To answer your question about my Parent continuing to pay, it is simple. My Parents pay their debts! They have never tried to get something for nothing but when the Servicers began to fabricate a default, my Parents did not want to make them correct in the fraud been perpetrated upon them. They were never in default! Adding fuel to the fire for these liars was not something they wanted to do because when it goes to court and it will. My Parents wanted to be able to go to Court with clean hands unlike these Servicers!
We look forward to this case being before a Judge and Jury because it is clear from our evidence that Litton loan and Ocwen has acted unconscionably for 5 years now. Eventually there will a day of reckoning with my Parents and or ME! I will not stop, I will not give up, I will not rest until they are held accountable and my Parents find relief! So, until such time that the winds of accountability blow strong for homeowners, I will continue to scream this story from the highest mountain and our next screaming session is coming and it is huge..the light will be too bright for them to hide..so Ocwen, you have one last chance to do the right thing regarding my Parents before we make our stand! The question is, will you?
It's hard to imagine that these types of schemes are allowed to go on today...until you realize that nobody has been held personally accountable for their crimes.
Even when a corporation gets fined --they often simply write-off their "loss" ---they get rewarded with a tax break. None of the people who create, participate and maintain the scheme are personally affected. They don't live in chaos. They don't live in fear of losing their home, having their credit destroyed, their savings or retirement accounts emptied. They don't struggle to find legal assistance. They don't have to write letters or sit by the phones waiting for someone to return their call. They don't have frustrations or worries that keep them up at night. They don't have to spend months or years restoring their credit, their financial losses, their family, their health or even their sense of peace & security. They probably sleep like babies...and why wouldn't they? Nothing is affecting their PERSONAL lives --it's merely "business" as they like to say. And while their days, nights, holidays, weekends and family remain unaffected, victims can't say the same. They continue to say the same nightly prayers and wake up to the same daily problems --the only thing new seems to be headlines sharing stories about new victims or predatory and deceptive practices. This link is from today's headlines:
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/24/banks_find_appalling_new_way_to_cheat_homeowners_partner/singleton/
When corporations don't have integrity-driven leaders, they too easily become schemers and when that happens, they encourage it to evolve...and we should all know by now what to expect then...Their actions and alliances grow too big to fail, too big to untangle and too big to undo the harm that went undetected for far too long.
The truth is: we can't legislate integrity. You either have it or you don't. And those who don't have proven they need constant monitoring and scrutiny. Fool us once shame on us, fool us again and again ---shame on us! When a Goliath like Chase makes an offer to pay $3 BILLION dollars to stop further mortgage probes...something smells bad and needs airing out.
This latest Ocwen lawsuit has a different slant...while it might be surprising to some people, it actually confirms my findings relevant to what ties and what lies within the identity theft protection industry...and answers many questions brought about by consumers relaying their frustrations and difficulties when trying to sort through conflicting info to find out what company/service they might find helpful and worthy of their trust. As usual a lot can be learned (and fixed) by listening to consumers--if you genuinely want to hear them.
http://www.law360.com/articles/469971/ocwen-identity-theft-co-made-harassing-calls-suit-says
More links as referred to above include:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/24/jpmorgan-chase-offers-justice-department-a-3-billion-settlement/
http://msfraud.org/the-ocwen_davis-case.html
Find a wealth of information on mortgage servicers & their industry practices here:
http://www.msfraud.org/articles2013_sept.htm
When I think about what my Parents have been through for the last 5 years and how this was accomplished, it sickens me. How any of these people can sleep at night astounds me!
Where are the WATCHERS?
Whistleblowers Reveal How
Bank of America Defrauded Homeowners
and Paid for a Cover Up—
All With the Help of “Regulators”
http://www.msfraud.org/Articles/Whistleblower-Report-on-Bank-of-America-Foreclosure-Reviews_eBook_4-13.pdf
Update on my Parents..A second CFPB complaint was made last week and referenced back to the first complaint. While the first complaint doesn't show closed, an update of the information was needed and include some items excluded (there is so much)from the first complaint.The only Ocwen response forwarded to my Parnets from CFPB was Ocwens inability to comply without a release from the Borrower and that was sent and noted on the CFPB website. I am not sure if a response hasn't found its way to them or if Ocwen once again didn't respond or if it is still under investigation. I do know that a recent QWR from the Borrower to Ocwen hasn't been answered which is NOT at all unusal.
While dealing with the personal tax prep, my Mother attached a corrected copy of a 1098 that Ocwen sent to the IRS. It stated that Ocwen paid the property taxes for the year 2011. That is erroneous. My Mother has a paid in full receipt that these taxes were paid to the County by my Parents. Where is Ocwens paid if full receipt? These types of errors, if you wish to call them that, happen very frequently. Yet no one at the IRS questions them? If such an agency were unclear about documents of the taxpayer, there would be an audit. Ocwen has filed these sort of things for years to the IRS.
My Parents still have no accurate accounting of this account, perhaps because this account is such a mess that it is impossible to discern what is accurate. My Parents are still making current payments and they haven't received a statement from Ocwen in over a year, Ocwen doesn't answer QWR from my Parents. I would be very gratful if I could somehow get a more clear answer from the CFPB. Are they answering your inquiries? To those out there that haven't yet made a complaint with the CFPB you should do so. The more this behavior is reported the better. There is strength in the voices of victims.
I wonder when compliance of the LAW will finally happen? I wonder how much more limbo my Parents will have to endure? How horrible that my folks are in the twilight of their lives with a huge cloud over them that never goes away. They never escape the shadow.
The Holidays are almost upon us again and again they wait and wonder if the start of a new year will be the answer to their prayers.
Please! To those who are in a position to help, help them. Help my Parents have some peace! I know all in Washington cannot be turning a blind eye. I know that someone somewhere cares about my Parents. If you were in my place and watching this happen to your family members.. would you still look away? Would you still allow their world to be torn apart? I think we all know that answer..You world turn the world over to stop it! Perhaps, even give some folks JAIL time for disrupting these lives, damaging the economy and lying to the courts. Just because it isn't your family experiencing this evil doesn't make it any less criminal and immoral. My Mother and Father deserves better and now need the help of their Government and its Judiciary. Will any of you help them?
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (cfpb) website the Servicer should follow these rules..I copied and pasted directly from their site.
A Qualified Written Request (QWR) is written correspondence that you or someone acting on your behalf can send to your servicer to ask for information relating to the servicing of your loan or to dispute errors about your loan account.
Your request must:
Get Help
Tell us your story, good or bad, about your experience with consumer financial products.
•Be made on its own, so do not write your question on your payment coupon or mortgage statement
•Include or provide enough information for the servicer to identify the name and account of the borrower
•Contain a statement of the reasons you believe that the servicer has made an error with respect to your account or contain a detailed explanation as to other information relating to the servicing of the loan that you are requesting.
The U.S. Department of Urban Housing and Development (HUD) provides a sample QWR on its website that you can follow.
Your QWR should:
•Be sent certified mail, return receipt requested so you will have confirmation that your letter arrived
•Be sent to the address that the servicer uses for receiving QWRs (this may be different from where you send your payment or even different from the customer service address)
•Contain the words: “This is a Qualified Written Request’ under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)”
Once your servicer receives the request, it has 20 business days to acknowledge your inquiry. You servicer also has no later than 60 business days after it receives your QWR to either provide you in writing with the information or clarification, make the correction you request, or let you know why it believes it cannot provide you with the information or that there has not been a mistake and your account information is correct.
The response from your servicer must include the name and telephone number for the individual, office, or department of the servicer who can provide you with additional assistance if you have any questions. While you are waiting for a response, you should continue making your mortgage payments as scheduled.
The qualified written requests to Ocwen from my Parents continue to go unanswered!
According to Ocwens own letterhead, the request should be sent to the following address. This is directly from their correspondence.
To send a Qualified Written Request:
Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC
Attn: Research Department
P.O.Box 24736
West Palm Beach, Florida 33416-4738
Not only do these QWR's go unanswered but they are not acknowledged at all!
Deposition from Ronald Davis a former Ocwen employee. This is exactly what Ocwen and the previous servicer Litton Loan has done to my Parents. If you haven't read this deposition, please do as it shows the blatant crimes committed on the homeowners with equity. My Parents have a considerable amount of equity in their home and were obviously target for this reason as well as the fact they were vulnerable because of Mothers illness and elderly! It is sickening what these employees did to the homeowners including my Parents! It is criminal and someone needs to go to JAIL!
http://www.claiborne.webs.com/RON%20DAVIS%20TESTFY.pdf
My mom has gone threw exactly the same thing only both Litton and Ocwen have both ripped my mom off big time. It was a 15 year note @ $75,000.00 and now at 14 yrs Litton and Ocwen have it that mom still owes 74,000.00 now I ask the same question does 2 and 2 add up. Now we are in foreclosure. We have contacted a non profit organization called HOPE thru Obama's one good thing he has put in law off stopping foreclosures which has still not helped. Phone # to Hope is 1-888-995-4673. Please give it a try our counselor that we had didn't do his job so it was too late for who took his place after the other left the job. I am Texas so I am not sure if hope goes in all states but it's worth a try. I am divorced with a 9 yr. old daughter and am on Soc. Sec. Disability my mom is on Soc.Sec.Retirement and has Diabetic retinopathy and has lost some of her periferral vision,so we are both on a fixed income. Meanwhile last Oct. my father molested my daughter went to jail gave power of attorney to my younger evil sister which was fraudulent because I already had Power of Attorney that he gave me when I took my parents to have their wills done up. In the county that we live in they let my sister off scott free. She not only stole his social sec. retirement that made the mortgage but she stole his workman's comp checks which is all around $10,000.00. Not to mention I loaned her before that $6000.00 that was to be paid back at $100.00 a week until paid. she would not pay me so I took her to court the judge I had was about to retire so he would not let me show evidence besides they admitted in court they borrowed it but the judge ruled in their favor and I lost. Some justice we have in this world so I pray for you and your family Alissa I know all to well what you all have been going through. Please feel free to email me if you want to talk. It is God Bless.
This is the latest QWR sent to Ocwen and others. They are not answering so I decided to share it in case others could use any of the information.
Remember I am asking these questions because Ocwen has not sent my Parents an accounting of this account since October 2012. They, my parents, are blindly making payments to this account with no account activity accounting whatsoever from Ocwen..Here is the QWR sent.
The personal information regarding this account has been removed for this post only. All copies sent to Ocwen and others contained all info needed to process this qualified written request.
U.S. Certified Mail # ________________
To: Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC.
Attn: Research Department
P.O. Box 24736
West Palm Beach, Florida 33416-4738
U.S. Certified Mail # ________________
cc: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
P.O. Box 4503
Iowa City, Iowa 52244
case #’s 131016-001181 and 130630-000048
U.S. Certified Mail # ________________
cc: Mr. William Erbey, Ombudsman
12001 Science Drive STE 110
Orlando, Florida 32822
U.S. Certified Mail # ________________
cc: Ronald M. Faris
2002 Summit Boulevard 6th floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30319
U.S. Certified Mail # ________________
cc: Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales
Office of Housing, Room 9154
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
U.S. Certified Mail # _________________
Joseph A. Smith, Jr.,
Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement
Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight
301 Fayetteville St., Suite 1801
Raleigh, NC 27601
Re: Homeowner
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
Loan # XXXXXXXXXX
Please treat this letter as a “qualified written request” under the Federal Servicer Act, which is a part of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. 2605(e).
Pursuant to “Subtitle E Mortgage Servicing” of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and pursuant to 12 U.S.C. Section 2605(e)(1)(A) and Reg. X Section 3500.21(e)(1), please provide:
1. I am requesting regular monthly statements of this account # XXXXXXXXXX be reinstated and sent to my home address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The last statement I received on this account was in October 2012.
2. If Ocwen has another address other than the one stated above that reviews qualified written requests, I ask that it be supplied to me immediately. Previous qualified written request remain unanswered to the present date. Please be advised that the Ocwen address as stated above is being used on this QWR based solely on Ocwen’s own words from Ocwen’s letterhead: To send a qualified written request, Attention: Research Department P.O. Box 24736 West Palm Beach, Florida 33416-4738.
3. I am requesting the status of the above referenced account # XXXXXXXXXX. Is this accounts status listed as current, in default or in foreclosure?
4. What is the Balance on this account?
5. I am requesting a complete accounting history to include (Payments made by borrower and internal Adjustments from Ocwen and its predecessors) of this account # XXXXXXXXXX from the date you, Ocwen Loan Servicing and its predecessor, Litton Loan began servicing this account to present.
6. As this account has never been in default other than the default manufactured by Ocwen’s computer software or its predecessor, Littion Loan Services, I ask that all negative reporting’s regarding this loan to all credit bureaus by Ocwen Loan Servicing and its predecessor, Litton Loan Servicing be removed from the borrowers credit report immediately and that Ocwen supply written documentation of these corrections to the borrower.
7. I am requesting that Ocwen make an accurate accounting of a negative amortization adjustment posted to this account in 2011 totaling approximately $19,798.00. What makes up this adjustment? Is it interest, late fees, inspection fees, arrearage, Attorney fees, etc? Please be specific in the explanation of this figure.
8. Please justify the charging of $13,278.12 in interest, per your letter dated December 28, 2011, for a period of time that the Borrower was under the protection of the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Mississippi.
9. Please make an accurate accounting of all monies forwarded to you, Ocwen or its predecessor, Litton Loan Services by the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Mississippi.
10. I am requesting an explanation of Ocwen’s sudden and inexplicable returning of the Borrowers current payments in the year 2012 for the months of July, August, September, October, November and December and the sudden and inexplicable retention of all current payments after December 2012. What late fees or other fees were charged to this account by returning these current payments in 2012?
11. I request any and all documentation that this account has ever been in default with you, Ocwen Loan Servicing or its predecessor, Litton Loan.
12. At the time the homeowner saught the protection of the bankruptcy court in February 2010, Litton Loan claimed to the Bankruptcy court an erroneous arrearage as the Borrowers were not in arrearage or default. Ocwen later supported this claim and continued to try and collect this a second time after the Bankruptcy court paid the erroneous claim from the borrowers payments made to the court. I request that if Ocwen has added this erroneous claim to the borrowers account that it immediately be removed as it is most definitely disputed by the borrower both times.
Thank you,
Just checked the CFPB website and looked at the complaint data base. Wow, we have some serious issues in this Country regarding Banks and Servicers..
Click the link below and check the complaints coming in and who they are being charged against.
https://data.consumerfinance.gov/dataset/Mortgage-complaints/c6ve-d79g
If you haven't already made a complaint, please do so because these issues need to be counted and logged!
Thanks..
Donna, I understand your frustration and utter feeling of helplessness as the "Watchers" are offering NO help to homeowners. Continue the fight and never give up! If you haven't done so, make a complaint or multiple complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection bureau.
www.cfpb.gov
Send qualified written request to the lender or servicer ( see mine above )I have some useful addresses regarding qwr's and others at Ocwen and consumer watch groups. Don't lay down or wait for answers of others because it wastes to much time. write letters until your fingers bleed to as many as possible..
for an explanation of a qwr, www.CFPB.gov can answer them for you.
I wish you and your family a "JUST" ending as we all continue to fight daily..Thank you for sharing your story here!
It is a sad fact that many Homeowners are losing their homes to wrongful foreclosure because they don't have the money to fight it in a non-judicial State. As I stated in the story, Mississippi is a Non-Judicial State. To fight here, your pockets have to be deep and be ready to educate your Counsel on the Fraud being perpetrated.
Other states have changed to Judicial in light of the mountain of evidence of FRAUD. It would be to the benefit of constiuents in any Non Judicial state that this change. Call or write your Government representatives and ask for this to change.
Jeff Barnes of foreclosuredefensenationwide.com believes the Non-Judicial practice is unconstitutional and I have to agree.
http://foreclosuredefensenationwide.com/?p=434
As in my Parents case..This action represents what should be done with Homeowners are over this country for those wrongfully foreclosed upon or made to suffer for years with treats of foreclosure with fabricated documents and fuzzy accounting..
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/lawsuit/jpmorgan-chase-fraud-bankruptcy-filings-lawsuit.html#.Um1LBqXn_qA
This is really no surprise but it does make ones head explode! Where has honor and justice gone? There is certainly honor among thieves and it is a sad fact for our Country!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-usa-holder-mortgage-idUSTRE80J0PH20120120
I can't tell you how many stories I have read that spell out exactly what happened to my Parents.Why isn't Ocwen being audited on a regular basis for substandard accounting software? Just because the computer says this is the account activity doesn't mean it is accurate. We contend this has been the problem from the beginning and it is being presented in courts all over this country as fact..Unbelievable!!
Read below:
Ocwen, Allegations of Fraud, Malice, Misrepresentation and Manipulation.
Ocwen Financial Corporation ("Ocwen") is a vertically integrated multi-billion dollar, publicly traded (NYSE: OCN) financial services holding company, engaged in a variety of businesses related to mortgage servicing, real estate asset management, asset recovery and technology. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida,
Within a 12 month period this company has lost two major lawsuits alleging fraud, malice, misrepresentation and manipulation totaling $14.5M. Other allegations have been made by former and current employees including the intentional destruction of information, and document forgery.
Why do so many people claim that Ocwen is ripping them off and wrongfully foreclosing on their homes?
Is Ocwen really the bad guy?
Or are their customers failing to meet their obligations and looking for a quick court buck?
This is the first in a series of stories about this company, Ocwen services sub-prime mortgages. This means they service mortgages for people that have had trouble paying their bills in the past. And Ocwen services a lot of these, nearly 400,000 customers.
As part of this investigation we decided to review a typical Ocwen customer, and a not so typical Ocwen customer. We will call them Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones (these are real Ocwen customers) who have ask to not be identified because of pending legal action.
Mr. Smith just had the loan servicing rights acquired by Ocwen in August of 2005. Mr. Smith has homeowners insurance through Prudential, his premiums are paid and current. In September of 2005 Mr. Smith paid his regular monthly bill to Ocwen with his old account #.
Mr. Smith had not received his new payment information from Ocwen and did not want to be late on his payment. Ocwen cashed this payment and on Sept 22nd sent him a letter (to the wrong address), stating he was late on house payment this letter did not contain his new account and payment information.
Mr. Smith contacted Ocwen numerous times in writing and on the phone trying to resolve this matter. Many times Mr. Smith would be routed to customer representatives that spoke very poor or unintelligible English or would be disconnected.
In October Mr. Smith still had not received his new payment information and again sent another payment to Ocwen, which again they cashed and again sent a letter, this time threatening foreclosure.
In November of 2005 Mr. Smith finally received his payment information, the statement showed he was 4 months behind (yes 4 months when he had only been a customer for 3) in his payments and fees had been added that he did not understand, such as homeowners insurance and legal fees and late payment fees, totaling almost $2600. Mr. Smith made another payment in Nov 2005 which was returned by Ocwen stating they could not accept partial payments.
Mr. Smith was now receiving nearly daily calls from Ocwen collections, and Mr. Smith responded in writing trying to rectify the situation. In December Mr. Smith received another statement again with a promise of foreclosure and new fees added in order to become current Ocwen now claimed he had to pay a sum of almost $3600.
Now these fees were different from the statement he had received the month before for the same items. Homeowners insurance went up $120, legal fees increased by $277 and the house payment itself went down by $38.
Mr. Smith wanted to refinance, but it appears Ocwen has already contacted the Credit Bureaus and reported him being late, he can’t get refinanced.
How is this possible?
A former employee claims he knows exactly how it’s possible. “The RealServicing software used by Ocwen and the Nightly Processing that reconciles the loan accounts doesn’t work and hasn’t for several years. That’s why customers get different payment information from month to month. It was a running joke in IT on how long the system would be down everyday when it ran. This whole process generated huge error logs that no one ever reviewed and it had been clear to everyone involved in the process that it has major problems”.
Ocwen has sued a former consultant that performed a review on this software claiming he has posted confidential information on the Internet and reported this information to Government Agencies and this consultant has already testified in a case against the company in which Ocwen was hit with a $3 Million verdict in Guzman V. Ocwen. This testimony was specific on the problems with Ocwen software and account reconciliation.
We contacted this consultant for comment and were informed that because of an Injunction granted to Ocwen he could not discuss the matter, and was prevented from testifying in another case in which he was listed as a witness and the jury awarded the plaintiff $11.5 Million in damages in Davis V. Ocwen. However a hearing was being set to Vacate the Injunction that prevented the consultant from discussing the details of his work at the company.
Other former and current employees have confirmed this information and noted that Management has been aware of these issues at the highest levels inside the company. Two employees have even tried to get the company to take action to resolve the problems but have not been successful.
WOW. If the company is aware of these problems why haven’t they done something to fix it?
Ocwen has not responded to these specific issues yet but has commented and currently claim that they are not intentionally foreclosing on homes. The CEO William Ereby has stated publicly that the company doesn’t make money on foreclosures that their profit comes from servicing the loans themselves.
If this is true then why are their an overwhelming number of reports freely available on the internet that confirm the Mr. Smith experience with the company?
Why are there so many lawsuits pending against Ocwen?
Next month we will continue this series on Ocwen and report on Mr. Jones a very unusual Ocwen customer.
New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks
Shahien NasiripourNov 07, 2013
The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that some of America’s largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing.
William Dudley, one of the nation’s top banking regulators whose organization helps oversee Wall Street banks including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, made the comment during a speech focused on the problems posed by banks perceived to be “too big to fail,” and possible solutions to correct them.
But in an abrupt turn, Dudley suggested that regulators may be stymied by "cultural" issues that have negatively affected the nation's biggest banks.
“Collectively, these enhancements to our current regime may not solve another important problem evident within some large financial institutions -- the apparent lack of respect for law, regulation and the public trust," he said.
“There is evidence of deep-seated cultural and ethical failures at many large financial institutions,” he continued. “Whether this is due to size and complexity, bad incentives, or some other issues is difficult to judge, but it is another critical problem that needs to be addressed.”
Dudley's comments come as the world’s biggest banks collectively face tens of billions of dollars in potential fines and government-driven settlements arising from alleged lawbreaking in markets ranging from home mortgages to interest rates and currencies.
Authorities in North America, Europe and Asia have been probing more than a dozen large institutions for allegedly attempting to manipulate benchmark interest rates, the most popular of which is known as Libor, that affect hundreds of trillions of dollars in loans and securities. So far, Barclays, UBS, Rabobank and Royal Bank of Scotland collectively have agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to settle with government authorities. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant U.S.-backed mortgage financiers, also have sued many of these banks to recover alleged losses.
In addition, regulators around the world are investigating whether some big banks attempted to rig the foreign exchange market, where currency prices are set and more than $5 trillion is exchanged daily. Goldman Sachs on Thursday became the latest bank to disclose that it was under investigation, joining Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and JPMorgan, among others.
JPMorgan is also among a group of banks facing U.S. demands for restitution and penalties for allegedly misleading investors when selling them home loans that had been bundled into securities. The bank recently agreed to pay the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, about $4 billion to settle claims it sold the mortgage financiers faulty home loan securities. A group of government agencies led by the Department of Justice has been negotiating with the bank to settle related claims that would call for billions more in cash and aid for distressed homeowners.
The FHFA reportedly is pressuring other financial institutions, such as Bank of America, to pay even higher amounts to settle lawsuits the regulator filed in 2011 alleging mass deception by 18 big banks.
New settlements and fines follow nearly $67 billion in fines and settlements agreed to by the nation’s six largest banks since 2010, according to SNL Financial. That figure swells to $103 billion when including legal costs dating to the start of 2008, according to a report earlier this year by Bloomberg News.
Recent pacts with the government include settling allegations that banks duped homeowners into taking out expensive mortgages; broke state and federal rules when attempting to seize homes after borrowers fell behind on their payments, a scandal that became known as “robosigning”; and manipulated markets to bolster their trading positions.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, regulators and the Justice Department faced criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers that they were too soft on banks alleged to have broken the law. Earlier this year, criticism escalated after Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress that some banks were “too large,” thwarting the government’s enforcement efforts.
Holder attempted to walk back those comments, and some five years after the height of the crisis it appears authorities are intent on erasing that view.
Dudley linked accountability and enforcement to “too big to fail,” arguing that ending the perception that some banks will forever be rescued from failure will “encourage the needed cultural shift necessary to restore public trust in the industry.”
“Tough enforcement and high penalties will certainly help focus management’s attention on this issue,” he said.
Post navigation← Previous While you were Trick or Treating – so were the Banks on Capitol Hill
Posted on November 7, 2013 by Deadly Clear While you were tacking on the last sequins of the Halloween costume and watching the World Series – the banks were handing out cash for votes to scale back the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. You probably didn’t hear about it because after that the TSA shooter dominated the news. Another special from “Whaddah I miss?”
The U.S. House of Representatives voted last Wednesday to scale back a much-debated provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, handing bank lobbyists a token victory in their fight against the tougher rules. The much-debated provision centered around derivatives. Those fighting the foreclosure wars need not be told the “devil is in the derivatives.”
Big banks and their allies in Congress have been pushing to undo part of the law that calls for walling off risky derivatives trading by investment banks from government backstops such as deposit insurance. They say the rule is unnecessary and would be expensive for banks. Ah shucks… TFB for the TBTF. A total of 70 Democrats joined Republican lawmakers in a vote to scrap the so-called push-out provision for most types of derivative trades, defying the will of the White House, which had called for the rule to remain in place.
Banks, Led By Citi, Lobby House (Successfully) To Limit Dodd-Frank On Derivatives by Tom Groenfeldt, Contributor on Forbes
The House of Representatives voted on a bipartisan bill to repeal financial bailout protections that Congress passed in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. [IT PASSED]. The bill, H.R. 992 or the “Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act,” would severely limit the reach of Sec. 716 in Dodd-Frank, which requires banks that are eligible for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or Federal Reserve lending discounts to spin off their derivatives activities into separate corporate entities that would not be eligible for federal assistance. Read more on Forbes HERE.
According to the New York Times, lobbyists from Citigroup C -0.56% played a major role in the bill’s creation: “Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill,” Eric Lipton and Ben Protess write. “Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)” Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to members of the House of Representatives from interest groups supporting and opposing H.R. 992 from January 1, 2011—December 31, 2012. Data source: OpenSecrets.org
Citigroup has given $503,150 to current members of the House of Representatives. Representative Jim Himes, D-Conn., has received $66,450 from Citigroup, more than any other member of the House of Representatives. Himes is a co-sponsor of the bill. Co-sponsors of the bill have received, on average, 16.8 times more money from Citigroup than have members of the House who have not signed on as co-sponsors. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has received $917,500 from interests supporting the bill, more than any other member of the House of Representatives.
Representative Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., the primary sponsor of the bill, has received $136,500 from the Securities and Investment industry, more than from any other industry. For previous analysis on H.R. 992 see our posts from when the bill passed the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agricultural Committee. Read more on Forbes HERE. BTW – Are you folks in Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois going to vote these filthy rich yayhoos back in office next year?!
Huffington Post reported that House of Representatives members voted to pass the highly bank-lobbied bill because, ”[T]his bill does not expose the taxpayer to any additional risk,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat who voted to scale back the rule. How do you spell idiot? 70 Democrats voted with 222 Republicans to pass the bill. Hey there – have any of you 70 wild-ass renegades read any of the Wall Street tell-all books?
Former Rep. Barney Frank, for whom the law was named, later said he never thought it was necessary, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has also said it is not clear that setting up separate swaps entities would make banks safer. Well, of course not – they’ve been paid handsomely and have never bothered to pass a law that mandates counting all of the derivatives that have plagued the world.
Warren Buffett on Derivatives (2002): “I view derivatives as time bombs, both for the parties that deal in them and the economic system. Unless derivatives contracts are collateralized or guaranteed, their ultimate value also depends on the creditworthiness of the counter-parties to them. But before a contract is settled, the counter-parties record profits and losses – often huge in amount – in their current earnings statements without so much as a penny changing hands.
Reported earnings on derivatives are often wildly overstated. That’s because today’s earnings are in a significant way based on estimates whose inaccuracy may not be exposed for many years.
Many people argue that derivatives reduce systemic problems, in that participants who can’t bear certain risks are able to transfer them to stronger hands. These people believe that derivatives act to stabilize the economy, facilitate trade, and eliminate bumps for individual participants. On a micro level, what they say is often true. I believe, however, that the macro picture is dangerous and getting more so. Large amounts of risk, particularly credit risk, have become concentrated in the hands of relatively few derivatives dealers, who in addition trade extensively with one other. The troubles of one could quickly infect the others.
The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts. In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.” [Warren was right in 2002 and it is even worse now. DC Ed.]
And while Obama on Monday did call for the push-out rule to remain in place, he stopped short of threatening to veto the legislation, as he has with other bills.
Still, backers of the pushout idea say it would keep banks from making wild trades while counting on federal support, such as the Fed’s discount window, if their trades go wrong. “This bill would allow Wall Street’s too big to fail banks to use insured deposits for their derivatives trading and gambling. That is indefensible,” said Dennis Kelleher at Better Markets, a financial reform lobby group.
Following the law’s directions, regulators wrote a rule forcing banks to either split swaps trading off into separate arms or else forgo federal support. But they gave large investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America two extra years to comply with the rule.
Read more on Huffington Post HERE. Thanks to DC Lex Gnosticos for the tip and Dale for the research
The very sad thing is that this was 4 years ago..And it still continues. What is our Government doing to its People and our Country? Elections have consequences!
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html
yep, the beat goes on ....
Top 540 Complaints and Reviews about Ocwen Loan Servicing
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/ocwen_loan.html
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is investigating Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) in connection with possible claims of breaches of fiduciary duty.
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20131112-910607.html?dsk=y
ocwenwatch.blogspot.com/
Oct 27, 2013 - This complaint, filed recently with the Virginia Insurance Commission exposes the shady practices of Ocwen and their "partner" Intersections ...
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/ocwensuit.pdf
My Mortgage Company is stealing my money--and my home!
Feb 19, 2010 ... But the crooks continue to get away with stealing homes because nobody is ... I had Upland mortgage since 2002 but they sold out to Ocwen ...
www.givemebackmycredit.com/blog/2010/02/home-robbery-mortgage-company-is-stealing-my-money--and-my-home.html
The Ocwen Lawsuit Source Page | Facebook
Ocwen Federal Bank Steals family home when they paid every house note and have ... OCWEN EMPLOYEE TESTIFIED TO STEALING CUSTOMER HOMES
www.facebook.com/pages/the-ocwen-lawsuit-source-page/106247569439179
Ocwen Financial - Complaints List
Name: Ocwen Financial, Customer Reviews: 26, Consumer Comments: 39, ... This company is fraudulent and steals from their mortgage holders for their home. ..... Get ready for round two of wrongfully foreclosed homes because their ...
www.complaintslist.com/loans/ocwen/
Ocwen Reviews and Complaints @ Pissed Consumer
Ocwen provides different services of financial nature, among them consumer and ... They have four of my notes, stolen from GMAC, given to them by the Obama boys, .... I AM A REAL ESTATE AGENT AND AS YOU KNOW THE MARKET HAS ...
www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/ocwen.html
Before my father refinance his houses, I was in the loan of the property. But my father refinanced the the property with Ocwen Loans and he didn't include ...... The other major issue is how they conveniently say my payment takes three weeks ...
www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/ocwen_loan.html
Ripoff Report | ocwen directory of Complaints & Reviews
Now Ocwen is Trying to Again STEAL MY HOME by INTENTIONALLY LYING TO ... Internet Author: stockbridge, Georgia Property Management: Ocwen Mtg Co ...
www.ripoffreport.com/directory/ocwen.aspx
Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC They are trying to steal ... - Ripoff Report
Dec 26, 2012 ... Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC They are trying to steal my home stating I didn't make my payments when I did! I have proof of every payment!
www.ripoffreport.com/r/ocwen-loan-servicing-llc/west-palm-beach-florida-33409/ocwen-loan-servicing-llc-they-are-trying-to-steal-my-home-stating-i-didnt-make-my-paymen-987390
ocwen | Foreclosure Fraud - Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing ...
Veteran's Four Year Foreclosure Fiasco Finally Comes to an End – Ocwen Gives Back Stolen Title to Paid Off Home. Posted by 4closureFraud on May 31, 2010 ...
4closurefraud.org/tag/ocwen/
Mortgage Servicing Fraud
... and willingly chose to induce FRAUD upon the court to steal my real property. This law firm has filed two actions on same property, and this time used an illegal .... Appeal of Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, and Moss, Codilis Stawiarski, Morris, ...
www.msfraud.org/
The-Ocwen_Davis-$11.5mm-Case - MSFraud.org
Ocwen "has a specific plan and scheme to take homes that have equity in them," ..... takes their ($ 16,000) cut, and assigns the note to Ocwen, who then services ...
msfraud.org/the-ocwen_davis-case.html
and the beat goes on...
http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=Ocwen+Financial+Corporation&noscat=13
MISSISSIPPI AG SUES JP MORGAN CHASE OVER DEBT COLLECTIONS
Where was Attorney General Jim Hood in 2010 when my Mother sent him a heart wrenching letter of desperation? She told him then of the fraud but his office obviously didn't read the Certified letter sent to his office. If he had, he would have known that my Parents were not behind on their mortgage and that JPM Chase's Servicers Litton Loan and Ocwen were adding thousands of dollars to my Parents account. They, the Servicers, manufactured more debt, default, filed forged and fraudulent assignments with the County Land records office and committed, I allege, fraud upon the United States Bankruptcy court, Southern District of Mississippi.
When my Mother called to follow up on her certified letter and spoke with an AG office representative, he told her to simply pay her mortgage. How much anguish could my Parents have been saved if Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood had shown some compassion and more importantly upheld my Parents rights to protect themselves from unlawful debt collections?
When will Politicians understand that we place them in their positions and we can certainly take them away? The watchers have not been watching or acting with due diligence to preserve the homeowners due process rights..However, if any one in Washington or the various State Governments thinks WE THE PEOPLE haven't been watching they are mistaken!
I admit I was instantly angry when I read the post and sent a message to the AG's Facebook page and received the following reply from the AG's Office
The Mississippi Attorney Generals office: We have asked our Mortgage Foreclosure Consortium partners to review your information and contact you regarding some new developments to see if those may have any impact on your parent's case. We do hope it will help. Best wishes!
Best Wishes? Respectfully Sir, we have been in HELL for almost 6 years now. We haven't had a life outside this fight...Best Wishes just doesn't put this issue to rest!
MISSISSIPPI AG SUES JP MORGAN CHASE OVER DEBT COLLECTIONS
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/178_241/mississippi-ag-sues-jpmorgan-chase-over-debt-collections-1064406-1.html
CFPB, State Authorities Order Ocwen to Provide $2 Billion in Relief to Homeowners for Servicing Wrongs
Dec 19 2013
CFPB, State Authorities Order Ocwen to Provide $2 Billion in Relief to Homeowners for Servicing Wrongs
Largest Nonbank Servicer Will Also Refund $125 Million to Foreclosure Victims and Adhere to Significant New Homeowner Protections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), authorities in 49 states, and the District of Columbia filed a proposed court order requiring the country’s largest nonbank mortgage loan servicer, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and its subsidiary, Ocwen Loan Servicing, to provide $2 billion in principal reduction to underwater borrowers. The consent order addresses Ocwen’s systemic misconduct at every stage of the mortgage servicing process. Ocwen must also refund $125 million to the nearly 185,000 borrowers who have already been foreclosed upon and it must adhere to significant new homeowner protections.
“Deceptions and shortcuts in mortgage servicing will not be tolerated,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Ocwen took advantage of borrowers at every stage of the process. Today’s action sends a clear message that we will be vigilant about making sure that consumers are treated with the respect, dignity, and fairness they deserve.”
The proposed Ocwen Consent Order is available at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201312_cfpb_consent-order_ocwen.pdf
Ocwen, a publicly traded Florida corporation headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the largest nonbank mortgage servicer and the fourth-largest servicer overall in the United States. As a mortgage servicer, it is responsible for collecting payments from the mortgage borrower and forwarding those payments to the owner of the loan. It handles customer service, collections, loan modifications, and foreclosures.
Ocwen specializes in servicing subprime or delinquent loans and places a major emphasis on resolving delinquency through loss mitigation or foreclosure. In recent years, it has acquired competitors – including Homeward Residential Holdings LLC (formerly American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.) and Litton Loan Servicing LP. It has also acquired the mortgage servicing rights from the portfolios of some of the country’s largest banks.
The CFPB is charged with enforcing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which protects consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices by mortgage servicers – whether they are a bank or nonbank. State financial regulators, state attorneys general, and the CFPB uncovered substantial evidence that Ocwen violated state laws and the Dodd-Frank Act.
In early 2012, examinations by the Multistate Mortgage Committee, which is comprised of state financial regulators, identified potential violations at Ocwen. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission referred its investigation of Ocwen to the CFPB after the Bureau opened in July 2011. The Bureau then teamed with state attorneys general and state regulators to investigate and resolve the issues identified. Today’s settlement is a multi-jurisdictional collaborative effort.
Borrowers Pushed into Foreclosure by Servicing Errors
The CFPB and its partner states believe that Ocwen was engaged in significant and systemic misconduct that occurred at every stage of the mortgage servicing process. According to the complaint filed in the federal district court in the District of Columbia, Ocwen’s violations of consumer financial protections put thousands of people across the country at risk of losing their homes. Specifically, the complaint says that Ocwen:
•Took advantage of homeowners with servicing shortcuts and unauthorized fees: Customers relied on Ocwen to, among other things, treat them fairly, give them accurate information, and appropriately charge for services. According to the complaint, Ocwen violated the law in a number of ways, including:
◦Failing to timely and accurately apply payments made by borrowers and failing to maintain accurate account statements;
◦Charging borrowers unauthorized fees for default-related services;
◦Imposing force-placed insurance on consumers when Ocwen knew or should have known that they already had adequate home-insurance coverage; and
◦Providing false or misleading information in response to consumer complaints.
•Deceived consumers about foreclosure alternatives and improperly denied loan modifications: Struggling homeowners generally turn to mortgage servicers, the link to the owners of the loans, as their only means of developing a plan for payment. Ocwen failed to effectively assist, and in fact impeded, struggling homeowners trying to save their homes. This included:
◦Failing to provide accurate information about loan modifications and other loss mitigation services;
◦Failing to properly process borrowers’ applications and calculate their eligibility for loan modifications;
◦Providing false or misleading reasons for denying loan modifications;
◦Failing to honor previously agreed upon trial modifications with prior servicers; and
◦Deceptively seeking to collect payments under the mortgage’s original unmodified terms after the consumer had already begun a loan modification with the prior servicer.
•Engaged in illegal foreclosure practices: One of the most important jobs of a mortgage servicer is managing the foreclosure process. But Ocwen mishandled foreclosures and provided consumers with false information. Specifically, Ocwen is accused of:
◦Providing false or misleading information to consumers about the status of foreclosure proceedings where the borrower was in good faith actively pursuing a loss mitigation alternative also offered by Ocwen; and
◦Robo-signing foreclosure documents, including preparing, executing, notarizing, and filing affidavits in foreclosure proceedings with courts and government agencies without verifying the information.
Remedies: Consumer Protections
Today’s proposed court order will bar Ocwen from committing such violations in the future. It requires Ocwen to provide $125 million in refunds to foreclosed-upon consumers and $2 billion in loan modification relief to its customers through principal reduction. The refunds and relief also apply to consumers whose loans were previously serviced by Homeward Residential Holdings and Litton Loan Servicing. According to the proposed order, Ocwen must:
•Provide $2 billion in relief to underwater borrowers: Over a three-year period, Ocwen must complete sustainable loan modifications that result in principal reductions totaling $2 billion. For loan modification options, eligible borrowers may be contacted directly by Ocwen. Or borrowers may contact Ocwen to obtain more information about specific loan modification programs and to find out whether they may be impacted by this settlement. Ocwen can be reached at 1-800-337-6695 or ConsumerRelief@Ocwen.com. If Ocwen fails to meet this commitment, it must pay a cash penalty in the amount of any shortfall to the CFPB and the states.
•Provide $125 million in refunds to foreclosure victims: Ocwen must refund $125 million to consumers whose loans were being serviced by Ocwen, Homeward Residential Holdings, or Litton Loan Servicing, and who lost their homes to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2012. All eligible consumers who submit valid claims will receive an equal share of the $125 million. Borrowers who receive payments will not have to release any claims and will be free to seek additional relief in the courts. Ocwen will also pay $2.3 million to administer the refund process. Eligible consumers can expect to hear from the settlement administrator about potential payments.
•Stop robo-signing official documents: Ocwen must ensure that facts asserted in its documents about borrowers’ loans used in foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings are accurate and supported by reliable evidence. Affidavits and sworn statements must be based on personal knowledge.
•Adhere to significant new homeowner protections: Ocwen must change the way it services mortgages to ensure that borrowers are protected from the illegal behavior that puts them in danger of losing their homes. To ensure this, the CFPB and the states are proposing that Ocwen follow the servicing standards set up by the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement with the five largest banks. Because of Ocwen’s track record of problems handling the large volume of mortgage servicing rights it has quickly acquired in recent years, Ocwen is also being ordered to adhere to additional consumer protections, including how it manages transferred lans. Among other things, Ocwen must:
◦Properly process pending requests: For loans that are transferred to Ocwen, the company must determine the status of in-process loss mitigation requests pending within 60 days of transfer. Until then, Ocwen cannot start, refer to, or proceed with foreclosure.
◦Honor previous loan modification agreements: If the borrower has a loan modification agreement, Ocwen must honor it under the terms of the company that transferred the loan.
◦Ensure continuity of contact for consumers: Ocwen will have to ensure that consumers get regular and dependable assistance when they call for help. This includes requiring more than just a single point of contact assigned to each borrower, but also that other Ocwen employees with access to the borrower’s information be available if the borrower wants to speak to someone immediately.
◦Restrict servicing fees: All servicing fees must be reasonable, bona fide, and disclosed in detail to borrowers. For example, Ocwen cannot collect any late fees if a loan modification application is under review or if the borrower is making timely trial modification payments.
◦Notify consumers of loss mitigation options and restrict dual tracking: Ocwen generally cannot refer a borrower’s account to foreclosure while the borrower’s application for a loan modification is still pending. If the loan-modification request is denied, the borrower can appeal that decision and Ocwen cannot proceed to foreclosure until that appeal has been resolved.
In January 2013, the CFPB released new rules on mortgage servicing that will apply to every mortgage servicer. The standards that Ocwen must adhere to according to this court order are in addition to the protections offered to consumers under the new rules that take effect on Jan. 10, 2014. More information about the CFPB’s new mortgage rules can be found at: consumerfinance.gov/mortgage.
A factsheet about the proposed order filed today can be found at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201312_cfpb_factsheet_ocwen.pdf
Common consumer questions and answers about the order can be found at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201312_cfpb_common-questions_ocwen.pdf
A copy of the Ocwen complaint that the CFPB and state attorneys general filed today can be found at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201312_cfpb_complaint_ocwen.pdf
The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law. The proposed federal court order will have the full force of law only when signed by the presiding judge.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.
Subprime Mortgage Loan Servicer Ocwen Agrees to $2.2 Billion Settlement
By NATHANIEL POPPER
Barbara P. Fernandez for The New York Times
Offices of Ocwen Financial Corporation, the nation’s largest nonbank mortgage servicer, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Updated 8:53 p.m. A $2.2 billion agreement is settling accusations against a large but little known player in the mortgage industry that escaped last year’s sweeping mortgage settlement.
The Ocwen Financial Corporation, which has ridden its specialty in servicing subprime loans to become the fourth-largest mortgage servicer in the country, was accused of improperly handling the loans of homeowners after the financial crisis. The agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 49 states covers similar ground to a $25 billion settlement made last year with the largest banks.
Ocwen was not included in the larger settlement because its nonbank status allowed it to slip through the cracks of the different regulatory agencies. The company, which is publicly traded, now falls under the oversight of the bureau, which began in 2011.
Ocwen has prided itself as a specialist at the tricky work of servicing mortgages, something the banks have struggled to do well. But the agreement announced Thursday, which still requires court approval, made it clear that Ocwen has had many of the same problems as those banks.
“We believe that Ocwen violated federal consumer financial laws at every stage of the mortgage servicing process,” Richard Cordray, the director of the bureau, said in a conference call on Thursday.
The settlement covers several types of activities from 2009 to 2012 by Ocwen and two other companies it recently acquired, Litton Loan Servicing, which used to be owned by Goldman Sachs, and Homeward Residential Holdings.
The companies are accused of charging borrowers unauthorized fees, deceiving consumers about foreclosure alternatives and providing false or misleading information about the status of foreclosure proceedings. Mr. Cordray said that because of these violations, “Ocwen made troubled borrowers even more vulnerable to foreclosure.”
Ocwen did not have to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The company said in a statement that the agreement “is in alignment with the same ultimate goals that we share with the regulators — to prevent foreclosures and help struggling families keep their homes.”
Ocwen, which was founded in 1988, does not issue mortgages itself. Instead, it buys the rights to service the loans issued by banks, taking a cut of all the payments it receives from homeowners. It also has to do the unpleasant work of dealing with homeowners who fall behind on their payments and eventually face foreclosure.
The company has expanded rapidly since the financial crisis and its business model has proved to be lucrative, pushing up its stock price 500 percent since 2009. On Thursday, its stock fell 1.9 percent after the settlement was announced.
Lisa Sitkin, a lawyer at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, said that Ocwen had been more efficient and orderly than many of the banks that service mortgages. The company also won a reputation for working with homeowners to make principal reductions for loans that were underwater. Ocwen says it has helped more than 280,000 families avoid foreclosure.
But Ms. Sitkin said that when something goes awry for a customer, Ocwen’s stripped-down operation, which helps its profits, can make the company difficult to communicate with.
“There’s a certain automated quality to all the interactions with them — it doesn’t feel as if someone is watching,” Ms. Sitkin said. “When anything goes wrong, which it does, it’s extremely difficult to unravel it.”
Ocwen said that it works “closely with many highly effective groups and are expanding our partnerships with housing advocacy and counseling groups across the country.”
The bulk of the money in the settlement, $2 billion, will go to principal reductions for people whose loans are serviced by Ocwen. The biggest banks agreed to do something similar last year, and it has proved to be controversial, with many complaints from homeowners who said that the banks had too much control over the process.
An additional $125 million will be divided among people whose homes were foreclosed on by Ocwen. The Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, estimated that most homeowners would receive about $1,200.