NYS Regulator Orders Loan Servicer To Hire Watchdog To Ensure Compliance With Its Mortgage Servicing Reform Promises

From the Office of the New York State Department of Financial Services:

• Superintendent Benjamin M. Lawsky [] announced that the Department of Financial Services is requiring Ocwen Financial Corporation to hire a monitor to ensure that the company complies with an agreement to reform its mortgage servicing practices. The action was taken after an examination by the Department found indications of Ocwen violating the agreement. The monitor will be in place for two years.
  
  Ocwen is one of the largest mortgage servicers and has been growing rapidly, servicing more than 764,000 residential mortgages nationally as of August. In New York, the company services more than 40,000 residential home loan accounts held largely by distressed homeowners
  
  “It is not enough to have banks and mortgage servicers sign agreements promising to reform their businesses. The best unrealized reforms won’t protect homeowners. To protect homeowners facing the risk of losing their homes, we must ensure that the companies are actually living up to their promises,” Superintendent Lawsky said.
  
  “Following complaints about Ocwen’s servicing practices, we conducted a targeted exam of Ocwen’s performance and discovered gaps in the company’s compliance. The Department is requiring the company to hire a monitor so that we can be sure that the reforms are implemented and homeowners have a real chance to avoid foreclosure.”

For the NYS Department of Financial Services press release, see Cuomo Administration Requires Major Mortgage Servicer To Install Monitor To Ensure Promised Reforms Are Implemented (Exam Finds Indications that Problems Remain at Ocwen).

Go here for the new Consent Order.

Thanks to Bill Collins of Frontier Abstract for the heads-up on the story.