Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has posted the following on its website (http://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/foreclosure-prevention/independent-review-foreclosure-letters.html).

Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

Below are links to engagement letters submitted by the independent consultants, retained by servicers regulated by the OCC, who will be conducting foreclosure reviews pursuant to the requirements of the April 13, 2011 consent orders.  The engagement letters describe how the independent consultants will conduct their file reviews and claims processes to identify borrowers who suffered financial injury as a result of servicer deficiencies identified in the OCC’s consent orders.

Limited proprietary and personal information has been redacted from the engagement letters.  Examples of information that has been redacted include, but are not limited to: names, titles and biographies of individuals; proprietary systems information; references to specific bank policy; fees and costs associated with the engagement; and specific descriptions of past work performed by the independent consultants.

Since the acceptance of the engagement letters in September of this year, the independent consultants have further refined and made adjustments to the processes, procedures, and methodologies outlined in the engagement letters in consultation with OCC supervision staff.  Therefore, in many cases the review processes being implemented may differ in some respects from those described in the engagement letters because of subsequent coordination with the OCC.  In particular, there were a number of changes made to integrated claims process to ensure a single, uniform process among the servicers.

Pursuant to 12 C.F.R. § 4.12(c), the disclosure of the engagement letters at the OCC’s election has no precedential significance.

Wells Fargo Does It Again – This Time Investors Take a Hit

Wells Fargo Does It Again – This Time Investors Take a Hit

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Since Wells Fargo Bank has been around since the Gold Rush days and are such a large lender and securitizer, you would think that they would have state of the art systems handling the servicing of loans.  Especially in light of the huge rush to securitize anything and everything in the last 10 years.  But apparently the meltdown has moved them beyond what their systems are capable of.  This is probably especialy true given that banks are for the most part not lending much anymore (very limited number of new loans), but the number of loans in default, foreclosure, bankruptcy and REO status has skyrocketed. Pushing through so many foreclosures and processing so many advances and distributions is weighing down on their systems and infrastructure.  In their latest March statements to certificateholders (investors who purchased certificates from securitized trusts), Wells Fargo (usually as a Master Servicer or Servicer) is giving investors this disclosure on the first page of the reports:

 NOTE: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is processing an extraordinary expense charge related to the analysis, creation, and implementation of new and enhanced systems and processes necessitated by significant and unanticipated changes in industry and market conditions.

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